[2][3] After finishing his studies there, Benedetti chose not to pursue a religious career and instead made a living through teaching and editorial work for newspapers in Piedmont and Milan.
[4] During the 1848–49 revolts, he aligned himself with Giuseppe Mazzini's faction, and participated in the publication of the Corriere Livornese, a newspaper supporting Italian unification.
Following the closure of that paper, he returned to Novara, where he gave public lectures on history and founded the newspaper La Vedetta, which acted as a link between free Piedmont and Austrian-controlled Lombardy.
With the changing political landscape in Italy under King Victor Emmanuel II and Prime Minister Camillo di Cavour, Benedetti shifted his focus to academics and literature.
[6] His Canzoniere sacro di Giuda Levita (1871), a translation of the poems of Judah ha-Levi, introduced Italian audiences to medieval Hebrew poetry.