The brand was founded by Giacinto Benotto in 1931 in Torino. He very quickly gained a reputation for frames of the highest quality. His frames were used by numerous World and Olympic champions, starting in the 1940's. For the lug-lickers of the list, you should check out his work from the 1940's and 1950's, as the quality of the lug-work is definitely first class. I would rate a lot of it on the same level as modern American workmanship!
He was very active supplying frames to top-notch pros in the 1940's, which eventually led to the supply of frames to a pro "Benotto" team. The team was very successful. After a while Giacinto's son joined the company and eventually succeeded him. It was his son that was the one that was running the show at the time of the Moser team sponsorship.
The move to Mexico followed the marriage of Benotto to a Mexican woman, who I believe came from a wealthy Cuernavaca family. This was never meant to be an early attempt to move production to a low-production-cost country. The move happened exclusively for family reasons. In the period of the transfer from Italy to Mexico, at least one and perhaps more framebuilders trained or worked at De Rosa. Many of the pro team bikes were also built in the De Rosa premises during this period. I am not sure whether by De Rosa, De Rosa personnel or Benotto personnel, but there are certain similarities like the diamond shaped chainstays.
In my eyes, you would be hard pressed to find a nicer bike from the early 50's than a Benotto. Their workmanship is certainly much better than that seen on my same-period Bianchis, as well as that seen on Legnanos, Wiliers, Atalas etc...
Steven Maasland
Moorestown, NJ