Benedetto was born just outside of Palermo to poor parents, but apparently enjoyed making figurines in clay and stucco as a child.

He came to the attention of the Praetor of Palermo, prince Galati, who recommended him to study design with the painter Andrea D'Antoni, who seeing the boy's affinity to sculpture, placed him in the care of the sculptor Benedetto Delisi.

In Palermo, he completed the statue of a Young Dante or Dantino, exhibited in Milan, Vienna, and the Universal Exposition in New Orleans, it won a diploma of honor at the latter showing.

This large marble sculpture shows two mustachioed and earnest men, one of them the Greek freedom fighter Konstantinos Kanaris, guiding a fire ship with explosives towards the Ottoman fleet.

He was prolific over the next decade with statues of Jesus in Gesthemane, Julius Caesar, The Last Hour of Missolonghi, La Rosmunda, Frederick II set first stone of Castle of Palermo, and others exhibited in various European capitals.