The incident happened on Siremar’s 11,000–gt ferry Sansovino (built 1989) at Porto Empedocle on Tuesday.
The rest of the crew helped their stricken colleague and he was treated when the vessel moored at a naval base before being transferred to hospital.
The crewman suffered a broken left upper arm, the Agrigento website reported.
Investigations have begun into the accident.
Bad weather kept the vessel in port for most of Tuesday, but it left at 11pm local time.
