The Varaita is a 75 km river of the Province of Cuneo

Province of Cuneo

ayr is a province in the southwest of the Piedmont region of Italy. To the west it borders on the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur ....

 in north-west Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. It is the first right tributary of the Po River

Po River

The Po |Ligurian]]: Bodincus or Bodencus) is a river that flows either or – considering the length of the Maira, a right bank tributary – eastward across northern Italy, from a spring seeping from a stony hillside at Pian del Re, a flat place at the head of the Val Po under the northwest face...

.

The river springs at an elevation of some 2,500 m on the slopes of Monviso, in the Cottian Alps

Cottian Alps

The Cottian Alps are a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps. They form the border between France and Italy...

 near the French border

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, then proceeds through the valley named after it—the Valle Varaita—where it passes through centres including Frassino, Sampeyre

Sampeyre

Sampeyre is a comune in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 70 km southwest of Turin and about 35 km northwest of Cuneo...

, Brossasco

Brossasco

Brossasco is a comune in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region of Piedmont, located about 60 km southwest of Turin and about 25 km northwest of Cuneo....

 and Costigliole Saluzzo

Costigliole Saluzzo

Costigliole Saluzzo is a comune in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 60 km southwest of Turin and about 20 km north of Cuneo. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 3,212 and an area of 15.3 km².Costigliole Saluzzo borders the following...

. Having entered the plains of the Po valley

Po Valley

The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain is a major geographical feature of Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of 46,000 km² including its Venetic extension not actually related to the Po River basin; it runs from the Western Alps to the...

 it joins the Po near Casalgrasso

Casalgrasso

Casalgrasso is a comune in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about south of Turin and about north of Cuneo....

.

The regime is typical of an Alpine

Alps

The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....

 torrent

Torrente

Torrente may refer to:* Torrent, Valencia, a municipality located within the metropolitan area of the city of the Spanish city Valencia* Torrente , a Parisian haute couture fashion house founded by designer Rosette Torrente-Mett in 1969; current creative director Julien Fournie* Gonzalo Torrente...

: the flow is at its greatest in spring and in autumn while being drastically reduced during the summer. The mean discharge at its confluence with the Po is about 12 cubic metres per second.