The Velabrum was an important commercial and industrial area of the Rome, with a shrine to Larentia. Velabrum refers to the low ground between the northwest slope of the Palatine and the Capitoline. It is supposed to have been very swampy in early days and to have flooded even after it was drained when the Cloca Maxima was built.It's etymology is disputed.
Source:
Samuel Ball Platner's
A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome,
1929.
In his Life of Romulus, Plutarch writes about the etymology of Velabrum:
It was reported of her, being now celebrated and esteemed the mistress of a god, that she suddenly disappeared near the place where the first Larentia lay buried; the spot is at this day called Velabrum, because, the river frequently overflowing, they went over in ferry-boats somewhere hereabouts to the forum, the Latin word for ferrying being velatura. Others derive the name from velum, a sail; because the exhibitors of public shows used to hang the road that leads from the forum to the Circus Maximus with sails, beginning at this spot.
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