dalmatian italians always felt connected to the italian risorgimento, and among them were widely followed the ideas, intentions and ideals that flourished in the peninsula. at zara, in 1822, the imperial government made an 'inquisition of state' to twenty-five dalmatian italians "carbonari", another twenty-five were "persecuted" and sixty declared "suspicious." one of the supporters of this initial irredentism was niccolo tommaseo, born in sebenico. he was an italian dalmatian linguist, journalist and essayist who become internationally famous because editor of the first dizionario della lingua italiana.