Please sign in to post.

adapters: italy, germany or continental eu?

Will I need a special adapter for Italy and Germany or will the continental European adapter work every where?
Thanks!

Posted by
8889 posts

The first question to ask is do you need a 2-pin or a 3-pin adapter? I.E. does your appliance need an earth connection?

  • If the answer is 2-pin, a standard "Europlug" (2 round pins) will work in both Germany and Italy, and in most other places in Europe (notably NOT in the UK).
  • If your appliance is 3-pin, you need a different adapter for Italy from Germany. Germany uses a "Schuko" plug, which works in many other European countries as well, and is often mis-sold as a "European" adapter. Italy uses a plug with 3 pins in a row, and looks like this, totally different from a Schuko.
Posted by
16895 posts

I'm not sure how old of an Italian hotel we'd have to find to run into the issue that Edgar mentions. So far, the cheap-and-standard "Continental" 2-prong has worked wherever I have tried it.

Posted by
982 posts

Italy will probably fry your converter any way. We've lost two. It is expecting 220 at 50 Hz. Sometimes, that isn't what the Italian electrical system is putting out. :)