Here in Austria we actually have 230V instead of 220. I measured between 228 and 234.
In Italy it is pretty much the same with the voltage drop. They have very long 230V supply lines (sometimes several kilometres), so some houses only get as low as 190V.
Maybe some words about italian wiring.
Their work looks more like American than ours, as their boxes are not round, but rectangular and about the same size as American ones. They'll either take a single or triple receptacle or up to 3 switches. Wirenuts are the only common connectors (I only saw one color-yellow-but don't know if it has anything to do with the size).Stranded wire is very common there, they use it mostly in pvc flex conduit.Some receptacles will either take a Schuko plug or an Italian one, old plugs looked very much like Euro plugs. Common service in rural areas is only 20A/230V single phase for a whole house. old work was usually done with very thin zip cord with big gaps between the conductors, just nailed to the wall (They drove the nails into the gap between the conductors).
