The building was built on the site of several ancient Giotti and Gori family homes. Niccolò Benci di Sanna bought the property in 1469, but it wasn’t until the second half of the sixteenth century—likely over the course of seventy years—that his family pushed for the property’s reunification, which is what gives the building its current characteristics.
A marble bust of the Grand Duke Francesco I de ‘Medici, created by Giovanni Bandini and named Giovanni dell’Opera, rests on a shelf with inscriptions (transcribed by Francesco Bigazzi) supported by two heads of ram. Bianca Cappello, who had secured an unspecified assignment to a family member, is displayed on the door of the palace, which is clearly marked by sixteenth-century characters. A chronicler of the era claims that it was primarily an expression of gratitude to his wife, Bianca Cappello, who had secured an unidentified position for a family member.
From the first floor to the cornice, the facade’s central five axes (the side axes should actually be regarded as the aforementioned rear addition) are painted with allegories that, although previously attributed to Bernardino Poccetti, can actually be traced back to a painter of the Cerchia di Alessandro complaints, dating to 1575, with the Benci arms in the middle. These frescoes have a more recent attribution that links them to Giovanni Maria Butteri, whose virtues are preserved on some of her tablets.
