Macchiaioli, group of Italian painters that formed in Florence in 1850. The term Macchiaioli is derived from macchia, meaning "spot" or "blot" and referring to the short brushstrokes and splashes of color favored by the painters Giovanni Boldini, Telemaco Signorini, Giovanni Fattori, Adriano Cecioni, Silvestro Lega, and Guiseppe Abbati, who began meeting as a group at the Caffé Michelangelo in Florence in 1850. They rejected the historical and literary themes that formed the subject matter of academic painting of the day, concentrating instead on rural life and traditions; this they saw as a contribution to the movement at that time for Italian unification.

The term Macchiaioli was first used by hostile traditionalist critics in 1862, when some members of the group held a joint exhibition. The artists subsequently took the name for themselves. Although Macchiaioli share a number of traits with the later French art movement known as impressionism, key differences exist. Like the impressionists, they used spots of color to describe effects of light, and believed strongly in a naturalism enhanced by painting outdoors, directly from life. However, unlike the impressionists, after making studies from nature, the Macchiaioli completed their paintings indoors, in the studio. They also painted with a more limited and duller range of colors, their finished works remaining more traditional than those of the later group. Nevertheless, many of them later pursued impressionism. The artists of the Macchiaioli group were all exhibited together for the first time in 1905.