title: Stura del Monferrato
text: # Stura del Monferrato
  
  The Stura del Monferrato (also known as the Stura piccola and the Stura di Casale, in each case to distinguish it from other Piedmontese watercourses of the same name: the Stura di Lanzo, the Stura di Demonte and the Stura di Ovada) is a 36.7-kilometre (22.8 mi) stream, which runs through Murisengo, Cerrina Monferrato, Mombello Monferrato and Pontestura in the Italian Province of Alessandria.
  
  A right tributary of the Po River it flows in a northeasterly direction within the hilly region of the Basso Monferrato, through the Val Cerrina. (This valley, however, was not formed by the Stura: rather it was excavated by the major watercourse of Piedmont which existed during the Lower Pleistocene, draining the western Alps and following an east-south-easterly course generally to the south of today's Po.)
  
  Its mean discharge of a mere 3.2 cubic metres per second (110 cu ft/s) relies immediately upon precipitation, and is subject to marked seasonal variations.
  
  