Carlo Caneva (22 April 1845, Udine – 25 September 1922, Rome) was an Italian general, known for having led the conquest of Libya in the Italo-Turkish War.

Completing his studies at the Scuola di Guerra, he was attached to Italy's general staff and in 1896 left for Eritrea as an infantry colonel to fight against Ethiopia and the Dervishes.

Giovanni Giolitti, an unobjective source, remarked that Caneva lacked initiative and did not understand the implications of his conduct for international politics.

He was harshly criticised for having ignored (supposedly out of narrow-mindedness) the local Arab leaders during the first week of the Italian landings; and for his slow conventional conduct, lacking initiative and passive in the military operations that followed.

The foreign military attaches watching the conflict were amazed to note that he did not use cavalry in a theatre admirably well-suited to it and how he did not consider requesting reinforcements for his already-small force.