The opinions of Alessandro Manzoni and Graziadio Isaia Ascoli regarding thebest way of increasing the use of the Italian language within the newly formedItalian state diverged significantly. However, there was common ground on somepoints. First, they were more interested in what the best linguistic model wouldbe rather than in how to spread it among the people. Second, they were focusingon the educated public rather than the common people. Third, they both tendedto overestimate the success of the foreign models of linguistic unification thatthey were studying. As far as the first two points are concerned, a more pragmaticperspective was expressed by Raffaello Lambruschini, although his contributionlacked a constructive aspect.