No, as far as I've seen most Italian wall sockets take both 10 and 16A plugs. I only saw a 16A only socket once and that was a rather industrial looking IP44 surface mount one.
It is indeed true Schuko is really catching on in Italy.
At home I have a 1200W hair dryer with a Euro plug stamped 250V 2.5A...
Most ungrounded sockets were designed for 4mm pins and the ones I've seen almost always take 4.8mm pins too. It's quite easy to jam a Schuko or contour plug into one of these (and not even a problem with a contour plug, always do that with the vac in our living room.
Germany had 10A ungrounded plugs with full metal 4.8mm pins, as opposed to the older 6A ones with slitted 4mm pins. Never saw them in Austria though, and our ungrounded trailing sockets never take more than 4mm pins.
Rewireable plugs are readily available, though the quality has dropped noticeable.
One of our first jobs at my new school was to build a 5m extension cord. looking back I can say it was the most professionally built extension cord with the nastiest and cheapest components I've ever done.
Still love the ancient bakelite Schuko plugs with porcelaine guts... if you don't smash them they're indestructible.
