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History of the Italian electrical system

An overivew of the evolution of the electrical system in Italy throughout its history, including the voltage and frequency change and the ongoing move to a different standard of plugs.

This is made quite evident on this list, taken from the Italian Wikipedia page about electrical distribution, which shows the various voltages in use in major urban centres in Italy back in the day. As a result of this, some electrical devices made back then aren't usable now without a transformer to step down the voltage - this is quite common on smaller tube radios and fans which were meant to be used with the lighting supply. Other devices, instead, had voltage selector taps on the back - some of these were for 120/150V-only, but often these also included an option for 220V (for tube radios, this was generally the case for ones with a built-in transformer), which makes it possible to use them even today.

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