We're going to Italy on Friday. I have an adapter from a travel store that said it was specifically for Italy with 3 prongs on it. But we also rented a phone to use over there and the company sent us an adapter with 2 prongs and said although it said Great Britian on it told us it was for all of Europe and will work in Italy. Which does Italy use, the 3 prong or 2???

The Great Britain 3 prong is actually a very large plug with three flat prongs at angles to each other. I suspect if what you have has 3 round prongs in a straight row, the GB simply shows where it was made -- but made for the "continent".

There are some outlets in Italy with three holes and some with two holes. I've successfully used my two prong plug in three prong outlets (think like the US ones that have three holes, but an "old fashioned" two prong plug will still work). But for the life of me I can't imagine how you're going to fit three prongs into a two prong outlet.

The British plug has three square prongs, European ones typically have two round ones, but sometimes a round earth one too.

3 prongs are for electrical equipment with an earth/ground line. Bottom line, italy uses both 2 and 3 pronged devices and have sockets to suit both.

However, GB sockets are different from Italian ones. Italian prongs are cylindrical, GB prongs are flat but thicker than US ones.

I'm glad both posters above agreed with me on the basics, but I'd still like some confirmation on the real issue here.

While a two prong plug will work in a three prong outlet in Italy, isn't it likely that cms238 will encounter a hotel where all the outlets are only two prong -- thereby rendering her 3 prong plug useless?

I have one with 3 prongs in a row and one with 2 round prongs so although the phone company had it listed on the packing slip as Great Britain, it doesn't sound like it is. I'll just bring both, that way I'll be safe no matter where we are. Thanks everyone!

3 pronged plugs and their sockets are for devices which consume greater energy (wattage), for example: irons and most other heating devices. If the socket is 2 pronged, chances are it isn't wired to handle a greater wattage anyway. You could technically cut off the 3rd prong, but that could lead to the circuitry tripping or fuse blowing, or at the very least making the device less safe.

Hi cms,

I have a 3-prong adapter that I got in Italy.

The side that goes into the wall has two round prongs in line, that fit into the holes in the outlet, and a hole perpendicular to the line formed by the two prongs, that accepts the ground prong from the wall outlet.

The side that faces out from the wall has two holes in a line, that are shaped to fit both round and flat prongs, and a hole to accept the ground prong from the device.

This adapter is used in Italy to allow three prong/two prong use for Italian outlets as well as to adapt US to Italy plugs.

Look, not only do you need the "prong" adapter, you also need the transformer which many times are not one and the same. Europe is on 50hz and 220v. The bathrooms in Italy generally have an outlet for 110v/60hz for and electric razor or other low wattage appliances. Do no let your wife plug in her gasoline powered hair dryer or curling iron.

One other tip: laptops now have built in transformers and the power supplies automatically switch so a simple plug adapter will work with your laptop.. If you take your laptop, remember to take and rj11 modular line to connect to the hotel's pbx. They almost all provide direct outside lines. I use AOL in Italy all the time. just get your ISP provider's local tel #.

I used a 2 prong adaptor my daughter used in Spain and I blew a fuse for the top floor of our hotel. OOPS! I called the front desk and said the power must have gone out because it was so windy out!

kslanker touches on a good point: make sure whatever you plug in will accept 220V at 50Hz. For anything I might use for travel, I no longer buy a product that can't be used in both the US (110V, 60Hz) and Europe (largely 220V, 50Hz).

I recently rejected a rechargeable razor because the charger only accepted 110V. The little black "brick" power supply for my European cell phone says "Input 100-240V, 50-60Hz, 0.3A". That covers the desired range. V = Volts, Hz = Hertz, the frequency in cycles per second, and A = Amps, the current it will draw. If your device has a 110V only power supply, and you plug it in in Europe, you will fry it.

Dual voltage/frequency power supplies are commonplace these days. I carry and recharge two digital cameras, a cell phone, my PDA (Personal Digital Assistant, a pocket computer), and my rechargeable razor. They ALL have dual-voltage power supplies, so can be plugged in in either the US or Europe. Only an adapter is needed - a small device that converts from the two round prongs of Europe to the two flat prongs of the US. I also carry a small three-way US splitter that plugs into one outlet, and provides three outlets. I plug it into the adapter, and from there I can recharge three devices overnight at one outlet.

If you have any doubt about your adapter, visit any radio shack or travel store and ask for advice. The adapter I use is small, readily obtainable, and inexpensive. I carry more than one, in case I want to recharge different devices at different outlets (or in case I misplace one).

The exception to dual-voltage devices: any really high-power device, such as a hair dryer. I also have a travel hair dryer that will work on either 110V or 220V, but it has to be switched. Set it to 110 and plug it into 220, and you'll burn it out. This is just a technological limitation - it would be difficult and more costly to make a voltage-sensing hair dryer, and none are available that I'm aware of. If you want to bring a hair dryer (most hotels supply them), be sure you have a dual-voltage switchable model. You DON'T want to bring a 110V hair dryer and a transformer, since a 220-110 transformer that can handle 1800 Watts would be enormous and very heavy.

- Larry