WaterFire volunteers 'Rome' in Italy

ROME, ITALY (WPRI) - The Rhode Show was the only local television station asked to cover the WaterFire event which happened along the Tiber River.

Two back to back nights of WaterFire took countless hours of work, but volunteers were able to take in a few sights.

With a heavy workload, these volunteers found time to get in a little sightseeing, on a tour put on by one of their own.

"About 30 years ago I was on the European Honors Program at the Rhode Island School of Design and I loved walking around in Rome and seeing the various layers of history so I thought it’d be fun to go out with people who have been working hard the last couple of days and who will be working hard the next few days,” said Peter Van Erp, a WaterFire volunteer for 16 years.

Experiencing the culture allows WaterFire volunteers to understand the environment that they're working in. They learned plenty along the way too.

"Rome was founded on April 21st 753 before the common era, nearly 2,700 years ago,” Van Erp added.

Sights included the Colosseum, known for its epic gladiator battles. Right next to the Colosseum is the Forum. This space is surrounded by ancient government buildings and was just one of the many stops along the way.

The iconic structures and locations continued like the Circus Maximus where Roman chariot races were held, and the Pantheon which has been in continuous use since the 7th century. Not to mention the many fountains that are located in the city, or the fact that you can turn a corner and run into some ruins.

A once in a lifetime opportunity to bring WaterFire to Italy means so much more when they feel like they're actually there.

"The stories that are here are a major part of our western history and so WaterFire tries to echo those stories in a certain way,” Van Erp said.

Some were even revisiting the area--for the first time in decades. For these volunteers, they enjoyed seeing sights that they remembered from their last trip, as well as checking out spots they had never seen before.

With a brief history lesson and quick tour of the city, the crew was refueled and ready to go back to work.