The station is only about a 25-minute walk from the Duomo, so walking is usually the simplest choice with light luggage. A taxi makes more sense with suitcases, children or a late arrival. The bus works, but it is less direct than it looks, and current roadworks can move or suppress the stop outside the station. For Firenze Campo di Marte station to the centre, the first useful decision is which side of the tracks to leave from: head for Via Mannelli, not the stadium side.
First, leave the station on the Via Mannelli side
Campo di Marte is an elongated station with access on both sides of the railway. The side you want for Florence’s historic centre is Via Mannelli. Signs marked Uscita mean exit. The opposite side leads toward the stadium and Viale Malta/Campo d’Arrigo area, which is useful for football matches but sends a city-centre arrival in the wrong direction.
If you come off a platform some distance from the main building, follow the station passage and signs rather than simply following the largest crowd. Match days are precisely when the largest crowd may be going somewhere completely different.
RFI’s Campo di Marte station page lists nine passenger tracks and accessibility facilities. Tracks 2 to 9 have a step-free route using lifts, while track 1 has a step-free route without requiring one. RFI currently lists lift operating hours as 06:00 to 23:00.
Which option is best for your destination?
- Duomo, Santissima Annunziata or the eastern historic centre: walk if you can comfortably manage about 25 to 30 minutes.
- Santa Croce or Sant’Ambrogio: walking is particularly sensible because these areas are on the Campo di Marte side of the centre.
- San Lorenzo or Santa Maria Novella: check the next local train or consider the bus. A taxi is easiest with luggage.
- Ponte Vecchio, Santo Spirito or Pitti: a taxi is much more attractive if you are carrying bags. Walking all the way across the centre adds considerable distance.
Walking from Campo di Marte to the Duomo
The walk is largely flat. From the Via Mannelli side, use Piazza Donatello as a useful first waypoint, then aim for Piazza Santissima Annunziata and finally Piazza del Duomo. This is easier to follow than trying to memorize a chain of small Florentine street names immediately after getting off a train.
Allow roughly 25 minutes without luggage and closer to 30 minutes if you are pulling a suitcase, stopping at crossings or finding an apartment entrance. The first section feels like an ordinary residential city rather than Renaissance Florence. That is normal. The historic streets become much more obvious as you approach Santissima Annunziata and the Duomo.
The route does not involve a meaningful hill, but luggage changes the calculation. Pavements, kerbs, road crossings and the stone surfaces inside the historic core make a 25-minute walk feel rather different with a 20-kilogram suitcase.
When walking is the clear winner
Choose it if you have a backpack or small roller bag, the weather is reasonable and your accommodation is around the Duomo, Sant’Ambrogio or Santa Croce. By the time you have found a bus stop, waited and then walked from the final stop, public transport may save very little.
Taking a bus into central Florence
The bus is useful, but Campo di Marte is not arranged like Santa Maria Novella, where several transport modes gather neatly outside one entrance. Stops are distributed among Via Mannelli, Viale Mazzini and Via Masaccio, and temporary diversions matter.
Line 12 is the route most relevant to passengers wanting the Santa Maria Novella side of the centre. Its normal route serves CAMPO MARTE FS and continues toward stops including Indipendenza Nazionale and Stazione Scalette near SMN. Check the destination as well as the route number: the useful direction from this side of the route is toward Stazione Scalette / Il Prato Barbetti.
There is an important temporary complication in 2026. Autolinee Toscane currently has a line 12 diversion in force from 20 August through 31 December 2026 because Via Mannelli has been made one-way. In the affected direction the bus diverts from Viale Mazzini into Via Masaccio and does not make stops along the diversion. Do not stand at the usual station stop merely because an old map says line 12 should appear there.
Use the live Autolinee Toscane line 12 page immediately before travelling and follow the currently served stop shown in the planner. During the diversion, a nearby regular stop such as MASACCIO GIAMBOLOGNA may be more useful than the pole directly outside the railway station.
Line 13 also runs through the surrounding streets, but it is not a simple direct Campo di Marte-to-Duomo shuttle. Depending on your destination, it can involve walking to a stop such as Mazzini Repetti and then changing again closer to Piazza Beccaria. For the cathedral area, that usually makes walking more attractive.
Buying and validating the bus ticket
Since 1 August 2026, the standard Florence urban fare is €2. The ticket is valid for 90 minutes in Florence. Paper and digital tickets must be validated or activated when you begin travelling.
On an urban bus you can also pay with a contactless Visa, Mastercard or American Express card or enabled phone. Tap when you board and wait for the green confirmation screen. If you change to another urban bus during the ticket’s validity, tap the same card or device again. Full current rules and fares are on the Autolinee Toscane urban ticket page.
Taking a taxi from Campo di Marte
A taxi is the least complicated choice when the train has deposited you in Florence with large bags. The normal taxi area is on the Via Mannelli side. Station and Ponte al Pino works have occasionally shifted the rank a short distance along Via Mannelli, so if there is no line of white taxis immediately outside, look toward Viale Mazzini rather than crossing to the stadium side.
Trips from Campo di Marte to the Duomo, Santa Croce or another central address normally use the meter. There is no general fixed “station to city centre” fare. Florence’s municipal tariff currently starts at €3.80 on an ordinary weekday, €6.10 on a public holiday and €7.70 during the 22:00 to 06:00 night period. Luggage can add €1.20 per piece.
There is a predetermined fare specifically between Campo di Marte and Santa Maria Novella: €11.60 on weekdays, €13.90 on public holidays and €15.40 at night, with relevant luggage or additional-passenger supplements added separately. The city’s published tariff can be checked in the official Comune di Firenze taxi tariff.
A central apartment may be on a pedestrian street where the taxi cannot stop directly outside the door. Give the driver the full address rather than simply saying centro; the closest legal drop-off may be around the corner.
For more detail on ranks, calling a cab, apps and supplements, see the Florence taxi guide.
Before leaving the station, check for a local train to SMN
There is an option many arriving passengers overlook because they are already thinking about buses: look at the departure board for a Regionale going to Firenze S.M.N.. Some regional services make the Campo di Marte to Santa Maria Novella hop in roughly five to ten minutes.
This is especially useful if your hotel is around SMN, San Lorenzo or the western side of the historic centre. It is not worth waiting half an hour for one, but if a suitable regional train leaves shortly, staying inside the railway system can beat going outside to hunt for a bus.
The €2 Florence urban ticket is valid on regional trains between specified Florence stations, including Campo Marte and SMN, provided you use an eligible paper or digital ticket. The Tip Tap contactless ticket bought aboard a bus is not valid on trains. Also, do not jump onto a Frecciarossa or Intercity simply because its destination board includes Florence: your ticket must be valid for the particular train you board.
If you continue through Santa Maria Novella, the Firenze Santa Maria Novella station guide explains which exits lead toward the Duomo, taxis and tram stops.
What to do with luggage, children or reduced mobility
With one small case, the walk is manageable. With several suitcases, a stroller plus bags, or anyone who finds 25 minutes of continuous walking difficult, use a taxi or take a conveniently timed regional train to SMN.
Buses accept ordinary travel luggage, but getting a large roller case aboard a busy urban bus is not particularly elegant, especially when the station stop itself has been shifted by roadworks. A taxi removes both the stop-finding problem and the need to lift luggage through a crowded doorway.
For passengers relying on station lifts, remember that RFI currently gives 06:00 to 23:00 as the lift operating period at Campo di Marte. RFI also lists the station as one where assistance for passengers with disabilities or reduced mobility is available. Verify assistance arrangements in advance for a very early or late train rather than assuming every internal route will remain accessible overnight.
If Campo di Marte is only one transfer in a longer Italian journey, you can organize the rest of your Italy route around the actual stations you are using. Florence is one of the cities where “Firenze” on the ticket does not necessarily mean Santa Maria Novella.
Late arrivals, Sundays and public holidays
For a late arrival, a taxi is the most predictable option. Some Florence bus routes run later services, but diversions and reduced frequencies make them a poor place to improvise with luggage at midnight. If the weather is good and you know your route, walking to the eastern historic centre remains possible, but use ordinary city awareness on quieter residential streets.
On Sundays and holidays the walking route does not change, but bus frequencies can. Always use the live Autolinee Toscane planner rather than a weekday timetable saved earlier in the trip. Taxi holiday and nighttime starting fares are also higher than the normal weekday tariff.
If something goes wrong
- You came out on the stadium side: head back toward the Via Mannelli side rather than starting a long detour around the railway.
- The bus pole says fermata soppressa: the stop is suspended. Do not wait there. Check the live route and walk to the replacement or next served stop.
- No taxi is waiting outside: check a little farther along Via Mannelli, then request a licensed taxi by phone or app if necessary.
- The next SMN train is much later: abandon that idea. The Duomo is close enough that walking or taking a taxi will normally be quicker.
- Your accommodation says “central Florence” but is actually in Oltrarno: check the exact address before choosing to walk. Reaching the Duomo is only the first part of that journey.
For most lightly packed travellers heading to the Duomo or Santa Croce, the answer is simply to leave through Via Mannelli and walk. With serious luggage, take a taxi. Treat the bus as a useful option when its current stop and route genuinely suit your destination, not as something you must use merely because Campo di Marte is outside the pedestrian core.