Record Crowds Mass In Milan As Pre-Election Tension Mounts -- The Piazza del Duomo here, black with the record crowd of 100,000 that jammed there to here Premier Alcide de Gasperi, leader of the Christian Democrats speak before the vital elections of April 18. The crowd, largest of the current campaign, was twice the size of a gathering in the same Piazza to hear Communist leader Palmiro Togliatti. April 16, 1948.