Giovanni Macchia (14 November 1912 - 30 September 2001) was an Italian literary critic and essayist. Born in Trani, the son of a magistrate, in 1923 Macchia moved with his family to Rome, where in 1934 he graduated in letters and philosophy with a thesis on Charles Baudelaire as a critic, a topic which was later one of his main subject of studies. He attended master classes at the Collège de France and at La Sorbonne. A member of the Accademia dei Lincei since 1962, in 1990 he was awarded the Legion of Honor. In 1992 he received a Balzan Prize.