A heaviness hangs over the city of Florence as the rain falls. The cobblestones darken, the anorak provides only scant protection from the damp cold of November. Brunelleschi's cathedral rises like a millennia-old mountain from the sea of rooftops. Immobile, silent. The rain pelts incessantly on Florence's roofs, with no end in sight. The sky is a monotonous gray-blue, while tourists wander like ants through the winding alleyways. You can't get lost in Florence, because the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore keeps drawing you back to the city center.