The former captain of the 950ft-long cruise liner gave evidence for the first time on Tuesday at his ongoing trial in the town of Grosseto, in Tuscany, not far from where the tragedy happened in Jan 2012.
Schettino said he was keen to perform a "salute" to the tiny island in order to please the ship's head waiter, whose family came from Giglio, to impress a friend and former ship's captain, who was staying on the island, and to provide a spectacle for his passengers, who he thought would enjoy the night-time view of the island.
The manoeuvre was done for the benefit of Antonello Tievoli, the maitre' d of the cruise ship, a retired ship's captain, Mario Palombo, and the Concordia's 3,000 passengers, who had boarded the liner just a few hours before in the port of Civitavecchia, north of Rome.
"I wanted to kill three birds with one stone," he told the court, using an equivalent Italian phrase which means literally "to catch three pigeons with one bean".
During the manoeuvre, at around 9.30pm, the ship hit a large granite reef, which Schettino claims was not shown on his nautical maps, and immediately started taking on water through a long gash ripped in its hull.
Within hours the ship turned 180 degrees and then capsized in shallow water just outside Giglio's main harbour.
Thousands of terrified passengers and crew had to either jump into the water or scramble into lifeboats, some of which failed to deploy properly.
Schettino told the trial that it was common for captains to take their ships close to islands in order to provide a spectacle for passengers.
There was "a commercial aspect" and the practice was common among skippers working for Costa Cruises, the Genoa-based owners of the ship.
There was no obligation on the part of the captain to inform the company of a change of route, he told a prosecutor, Alessandro Leopizzi.
"I didn't advise anybody" on the night of the disaster that he intended to take the Concordia so close to Giglio, he told the court.
The trial continues, with a verdict expected early next year.
The wreck of the Concordia remained off Giglio for two and a half years, until it was finally refloated and towed to Genoa, its home port, in July.
The £1.2 billion operation involved hundreds of salvage experts from around the world, including dozens of Britons.
Millions of pounds' worth of steel, copper and other materials will be salvaged from the Concordia in an operation expected to take nearly two years and cost £80 million.
