1) "Ciò" means "This" or "That", so it refers to the singular noun you mentioned before.
2) You can also use:
"Loro" (it only refers to people)
"essi" (it is used when the people/animals/objects your refferring to are either masculine or masculine and feminine) For example, if you are referring to a group of people, wich is composed by only males or by males and females, you can use "essi", otherwise you have to use "esse" (in this case, if you are talking about a group of people, "loro" is used more often)
"essa" and "esso" are respectively feminine and masculine singular pronouns