This large villa was built several times starting from the 1st century BC, but was already abandoned in the 3rd century AD. From that moment, it became a quarry of building material useful for building other villas, and was later incorporated into the fortification walls of the city of Sirmione, and some areas were used as a cemetery.
The hypothesis that it was the residence of the famous Latin poet dates back to the fifteenth century, and is based on Carme 31, in which Catullus speaks of his return to his beloved Sirmione. However, it was later demonstrated that the Villa was built after his death, so this hypothesis is actually wrong.
The villa became an object of study during the Middle Ages, and was the destination of great artists who were interested in Roman architecture, as the master Antonio Palladio. The first real archaeological excavations, however, date back to the mid-nineteenth century, by the count Giovanni Girolamo Orti Manara.
In the 1940s, the Italian State’s Superintendence for Cultural Heritage began excavations and restoration work, which today makes it possible to appreciate the villa in all its magnificence and surrounded by its original environment, with a garden full of olive trees.