by Valeria Fanelli –

The Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago and Beppe Severgnini will present, in collaboration with Cinema/Chicago, “Portland 2 Portland – A Political Train Journey Across America,” a documentary directed by Andrea Salvadore.

What image do Europeans have of the United States of America and does it correspond to reality? What do Americans think of Europeans? How do people live along the coasts of the United States and in the great Midwest? What stories can they tell on the eve of the Presidential elections of 2012?

Two journalist-travelers from Europe decided to cross the United States by train to find out.

The documentary will be presented on Nov. 4 at the Claudia Cassidy Theater, in Chicago.

In June of 2012 Beppe Severgnini, columnist for the Corriere della Sera and the Financial Times, as well as a best-selling author and the most widely read Italian author in the United States in the past five years, decided to travel this time from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

A journey of more than 6,000 km crossing 18 states, from Portland, Maine to Portland, Oregon by train, the ideal means of transportation for meeting people, opinions, and landscapes.

From this journey, which he took with colleague Karl Hoffman, the correspondent in Italy for the German broadcasting station ARD, Severgnini described his stops on Twitter, wrote about them on his blog, and spoke about them online on CorriereTv, as well as on the weekly Sette. He also took notes for a book that will be published.

In addition to Beppe Severgnini, the Director Andrea Salvadore, cameraman Gianni Scimone and producer Soledad Ugolinelli will be present at the screening.

Beppe Severgnini has been writing for the Corriere della Sera since 1995.  Since 2011, he has been a columnist for the Financial Times.

His most recent book is Mamma mia! Berlusconi’s Italy Explained to Posterity and Friends Abroad (Rizzoli International, 2011).

Since 1998, Severgnini has been moderating ‘Italians’ (italians.corriere.it).  He is the most-followed Italian journalist on Twitt https://twitter.com/#!/beppesevergnini.