[1] In 1934 he became a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, and in the following year he volunteered for the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, strengthening his ties with high-ranking Fascists such as Ciano and Alessandro Pavolini.

His political career apparently over, Benini returned to Florence to take care of the Pignone, but in February 1943 he was recalled by the Duce and appointed Minister of Public Works, a post he held until the fall of the regime on 25 July 1943.

[5] Benini had not been invited to the Grand Council of Fascism that had voted the motion of no confidence towards Mussolini on 25 July, however he was considered close to the positions of Ciano and Dino Grandi and thus suspected of treason by Fascist hardliners.

[1][14] Benini was not charged in the trial, as he had not attended the Grand Council of Fascism that had voted for the end of the regime, had voluntarily surrendered to the RSI authorities and was considered a "small fish".

[15] In the following years, having lost control of the family business, which had been sold to the ENI group, he graduated in engineering, cultivated the hobby of gastronomy (he also wrote a recipe book in 1966, La cucina di casa mia) and taught mathematics in the schools of Castiglione della Pescaia, where he died at age 74 in 1976.