Villa Demidoff is the name attributed to the remains of the Medicean villa in Pratolino in 1837, when the Russian prince Paul II Demidoff bought the villa at the death of Leopold II of Habsburg-Lorraine.

In 1568 Francis I de` Medici bought the estate from Benedetto Uguccioni and commissioned Bernardo Buontalenti to build an imposing villa for his second wife, Bianca Cappello.
Unlike other Medicean villas, which usually played a strategic role due either to the place where they were built or to their agricultural activity, the villa in Pratolino was conceived as a luxury residence. In fact, in a lunette by Giusto Utens the villa is surrounded by a wide park, scattered with fountains, plays of water and statues (the most famous being certainly the massive "Apennine" by Giambologna).

When Francis I and Bianca Cappello died, the Medici family abandoned the villa. Only at the end of the 17th century did Ferdinand de` Medici (who never became Grand Duke of Tuscany) commissioned the renovation of the villa and the realisation of new statues for the park.

Under the Habsburg-Lorraine, the villa in Pratolino experienced a long period of decadence, due to the fact that its maintenance was too expensive. Many of the statues decorating its garden were moved to the Boboli Gardens in Florence.
In 1819, by order of Grand Duke Ferdinand III, Joseph Fritsch transformed the magnificent Italian garden into an English garden. The following year, Fritsch demolished what was considered one of the most beautiful Medicean villas.

Paul II Demidoff, an important Russian industrialist, bought the villa in 1837, renovated it and transformed the building that in the 16th was reserved to the pages into what today is called Villa Demidoff.