Ciao Italy! WaterFire heads to Rome

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - WaterFire is making its way to Rome, Italy this week! Volunteers have already started to make their way across the Atlantic to bring the excitement of Providence to a new city. The Rhode Show caught up with a few of the select volunteers before they left.

The city is buzzing with the recent news of WaterFire going to Rome.

"To be able to bring some of our history from providence Rhode Island to Rome, it's a special, special event. I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to sharing it with Italy and what better place to do it than Rome,” said Mayor Angel Taveres.

In order to capture the true essence of the event, volunteers from Providence will be making their way to Rome as well.

“Waterfire is going to be something that they've never seen before. And we're hoping that if we get a tenth of the response that we did get in Providence then we’ll have a really good fire,” said Peter Van Erp. He’s been a volunteer with Waterfire for 16 seasons.

Van Erp and other volunteers are taking time off from their busy schedules to work on this once in a lifetime event.

"It's so much fun, it's really a bonding experience because I was in Singapore last year with Waterfire as well and it was just amazing,” said volunteer, Carrie Capizzano.

The small group of volunteers that will make the trek to Rome is excited to be part of the grand event. Having strong communication and as well as a hard working team will make an Italian Waterfire a success.

"Team dynamic is everything and this is what amazes me because there are so many pieces to the puzzle to put together a Waterfire and somehow it comes together,” volunteer, Jim Alves, said.

A small group will come together to put on the event in Rome which will hopefully open doors for future communication between the countries.

"I hope that we can continue to build our relationship with Rome,” said Mayor Taveres. "We would certainly welcome investment here, we'd welcome more partnerships with Rome, with other cities in Italy, and so my hope is that it’s the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship,”

For creator, Barnaby Evans, he is looking forward to sharing his work from one capital city to another.

"The dream of doing something in the eternal city, Rome, which has been there for 3,000 years, and we're so excited,” Evans said.

About 20 volunteers made their way to Rome early this week in preparation for WaterFires on both Friday and Saturday nights.

The Rhode Show will have updates throughout the week and full access into the behind the scenes of WaterFire in Rome.