I have always wondered if those limits and the high electricity costs are because Italy abolished nuclear energy post-Chernobyl, doesn't have a massive oil and gas operation, so most of it is imported at a premium.
We should thank whoever came up with the idea of abolishing nuclear power in Italy. What a big mistake!
> if you never need electric stoves or heating it could be somewhat usable
Heating and stoves in Italy are usually gas-powered. Ovens and kettles are electric but normally do not exceed 3.3 kW, however, we need to be careful not to use too many high-consumption appliances together (e.g., oven and washing machine).
The introduction of increasingly restrictive energy classes for electric appliances in recent years has mitigated the problem to some extent anyway.
You guys really need to get on the solar panels, though.
In the Soviet system, usually not. There are often several downstream circuits with their own 20A or so breakers and wiring (e.g.: kitchen stove, normal kitchen sockets, bathroom sockets and lighting, other rooms’ sockets, everything non-wet lighting), but each apartment is normally supplied from a single phase. On the other hand, different apartments on the same floor (or different single-family homes on the same street, etc.) might indeed be supplied from different phases. Normal (Schuko) wall sockets are most frequently 16A (so yes, 3kW kettles max), stove sockets (and circuits) might be up to 32A, still single-phase.
(That’s not to say the system is ideal, of course. E.g. GFCIs have become common only in the past fifteen years or so, and in a country-home setting I’ve actually encountered disposable screw-socket [IEC 60269] fuses.)
Wait, really? That’s seriously underpowered, though I guess if you never need electric stoves or heating it could be somewhat usable. An ex-Soviet big-city apartment building will usually support 40A (~9kW) per apartment, and in France I had the impression that the values were similar—except for student dorms, which are supplied and wired like apartment buildings despite the density of occupants being 3x that or more, because apparently the builders could not into engineering and the uni authorities find it easier to blame the occupants (yes, I’m still a bit salty about that).