It’s not the strongest, but definitely the coldest on the rosa dei venti (the rose, i.e. chart, of winds). A compound word made of the Latin tras (across/thru) and the root for mountain, this Italian north-easterly winter wind literally blows tra montagna, across the Alps and Appenine mountains.

The peculiar thing about it is that it will push most of the moisture out of the atmosphere, so that while it marks the coldest days of the year, it also marks the sunniest. Mind you not normal Italian sunny, but laser-like contrasts between light and shadow, zero-impurities in the air, sunglasses required kind of sunny. You can pretty much see as far as the eye can manage… views all the way to the sea and beyond from pretty much any higher ground, as well as views of all the regional mountains from any lower coastal areas.

Ask any Roman to describe the Tramontana, and the answer you’ll likely get is “‘N ssole che spacca le pietre e’n'ffreddo c’te se porta via.” (A sun that splits stones and cold that takes you away.)

Copritevi! (Bundle up!)