Grotte di Catullo (Grottoes of Catullus / Katulove jame), Sirmione, Lake Garda, Lombardy, Italy

Grottoes of Catullus is the name given to the ruins of a Roman villa built between the end of the 1st century BC and the beginning of the 1st century AD at the northernmost end of the Sirmione peninsula on the southern shore of Lake Garda.

The archaeological complex, which always remained uncovered over time, has been the subject of academic research since the 15th century. Today, it is the most valuable testament of the Roman period in Sirmione's territory and an exceptional find of a Roman villa in northern Italy.

The name dates to the 15th century. The rediscovery of Catullus's lyric poems of that time—in the 31st poem, the poet describes his return to his beloved house in Sirmione—inspired the connection with the Roman villa. Its remains were still visible, although mostly covered with vegetation and buried to the point that it looked like a cave.

The first to attribute the villa to Catullus was Marino Sanuto the Younger in 1483. This hypothesis was later taken up by erudite and scholars, even though the villa visible today was built after the Veronese poet's death. There is no hard evidence to identify Catullus's house; however, the term has remained and is still used today.

Famous travellers visited the villa, including the Marquise of Mantua Isabella d'Este (in 1514 and 1535) and the Italian architect Andrea Palladio, who studied the villa's construction techniques.

The large villa, under which structures of the 1st century BC were found, was built at the beginning of the 1st century AD. The villa must have been abandoned in the 3rd century when part of its architectural decoration was reused in the other Roman villa in Sirmione located on the present-day via Antiche Mura. Between the 4th and 5th centuries, the villa's imposing surviving structures were included in the fortifications that enclosed the Sirmione peninsula and burials were built inside the remains of the Roman building, used as a cemetery.

Over the centuries, several chroniclers and travellers visited the ruins. However, the first comprehensive studies were conducted in 1801 by General Lacombe-Saint-Michel, the Napoleonic army commander. Subsequently, the Veronese count Giovanni Girolamo Orti Manara performed some excavations and surveys published in 1856.

In 1939, the National Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage started an extensive excavations and restorations program; it acquired the entire area in 1948 to guarantee adequate protection of the complex and its natural environment. During the 1990s, further studies confirmed that the construction was carried out through a unitary project, which defined the orientation and distribution of the internal spaces according to a precise axiality and symmetry criterion. An archaeological museum collecting finds from the area was inaugurated in 1999.
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Izraz "Catullusove jame" označuje rimsko vilo, zgrajeno med koncem prvega stoletja pred našim štetjem in prvim stoletjem našega štetja v Sirmioneju, v provinci Brescia, na južni obali Gardskega jezera. Arheološki kompleks, katerega del, zlasti v severnem sektorju, ki je vedno ostal na vidiku, je že od petnajstega stoletja predmet obiskov in znanstvenih špekulacij, je danes najpomembnejše pričevanje rimskega obdobja na ozemlju Sirmione in je najbolj impresiven primer rimske vile v severni Italiji.

Ime "Catullusove jame" sega v petnajsto stoletje, ko je ponovno odkritje Catullusovih besedil, vključno s Carme 31, v kateri pesnik opisuje svojo vrnitev v svoj ljubljeni dom v Sirmioneju, nakazovalo, da je povezava z veličastnimi ostanki še vedno vidna, čeprav večinoma zakopana in pokrita z vegetacijo, da bi se pojavila kot jame. Prvi, ki je vilo pripisal Gaju Valeriju Catullusu, je bil leta 1483 Marin Sanudo mlajši. To hipotezo so kasneje prevzeli kasnejši znanstveniki in učenjaki, kljub temu, da je bila danes vidna vila zgrajena po smrti veronskega pesnika. Trenutno ni določenih elementov, ki bi našli hišo Catullusa. Vendar je izraz ostal in se še danes uporablja za identifikacijo arheološkega najdišča.

V šestnajstem stoletju je bila vila destinacija nekaterih znanih popotnikov, vključno z markizo Mantove Isabella d'Este Gonzaga (1514 in 1535) in Andrea Palladio, ki je ostanke obiskal z vidika gradbenih tehnik.

Velika vila, pod katero so bile najdene strukture iz prvega stoletja pred našim štetjem, je bila zgrajena v začetku prvega stoletja našega štetja. Vila je bila v stanju zanemarjanja že v tretjem stoletju, ko je bil del njene arhitekturne dekoracije ponovno uporabljen v drugi rimski vili v Sirmioneju, tisti v Via Antiche Mura. Med 4. in 5. stoletjem so bile impozantne ohranjene strukture vile vključene v utrdbe, ki so obdajale polotok Sirmione, pokopi pa so bili narejeni v ostankih rimske stavbe.