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 km 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 m3/s relies immediately upon precipitation, and is subject to marked seasonal variations.