The Lao is a river of southern 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 a considerable stream, rising in the Lucanian Apennines in the province of Potenza

Province of Potenza

The Province of Potenza is a province in the Basilicata region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Potenza.-Geography:It has an area of 6,545 km² and a total population of 387,107 . There are 100 comuni in the province .-History:In 272 B.C. the province was conquered by the Greek army...

, Basilicata

Basilicata

Basilicata , also known as Lucania, is a region in the south of Italy, bordering on Campania to the west, Apulia to the north and east, and Calabria to the south, having one short southwestern coastline on the Tyrrhenian Sea between Campania in the northwest and Calabria in the southwest, and a...

 region and falling into the Gulf of Policastro  near Santa Maria del Cedro

Santa Maria del Cedro

Santa Maria del Cedro is a town and comune in the province of Cosenza, Calabria, Italy. The towns name indicates the cultivation of the special Diamante Citron which uses as Etrog for the Jews, during their Feast of Tabernacles....

, province of Cosenza

Province of Cosenza

The Province of Cosenza is a province in the Calabria region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Cosenza.It has an area of 6,650 km², and a total population of 733,797 . It is the biggest Calabrian Province...

, Calabria

Calabria

Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....

 region. Near its mouth are the ruins of the ancient Greek

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...

 colony of Laüs

Laüs

Laüs or Laus or Laos , was an ancient city on the west coast of Lucania, at the mouth of the river of the same name, which formed the boundary between Lucania and Bruttium; the site of Laüs is in the frazione of Marcellina in the comune of Santa Maria del Cedro, Province of Cosenza, Calabria...

. Pliny

Pliny the Elder

Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...

 and Ptolemy

Ptolemy

Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...

 and Strabo

Strabo

Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...

 all describe the river and note that it was the boundary between Lucania

Lucania

Lucania was an ancient district of southern Italy, extending from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Gulf of Taranto. To the north it adjoined Campania, Samnium and Apulia, and to the south it was separated by a narrow isthmus from the district of Bruttium...

 and Bruttium in antiquity. (Strab. vi., p. 253; Plin. iii. 5. s. 10; Ptol. iii. 1. § 9)

Strabo speaks of a gulf of Laüs, by which he can hardly mean any other than the extensive bay now called the Gulf of Policastro, which may be considered as extending from the promontory of Pynus (Capo degli Infreschi) to near Cirella.

The river's valley is included in the Pollino National Park

Pollino National Park

The Pollino National Park is a national park in Basilicata and Calabria, southern Italy. Comprised within the provinces of Cosenza, Matera and Potenza, with its 1,820 square kilometres it is the largest natural park in the country...

.