Record: This road in Germany is only 31 centimeters wide

You know that feeling when you're driving, especially in countries like Italy , and sometimes you think, "There's no way I can fit through this street?" While that works out in most cases, the narrowest street in the world makes it difficult to even fit through on foot. It's not in Italy, but in Baden-Württemberg .

It doesn't get any narrower: In Reutlingen, you can squeeze through the narrowest street in the world. This record was confirmed by the Guinness Book of Records in 2007. As the city explains online, the alley was created after a devastating fire in 1726 that destroyed almost the entire city.

The fire was presumably caused by a burning candle in the house of shoemaker Friedrich Dürr, very close to St. Nicholas Church. Rumor has it that it fell through a crack in the floorboards into the straw bed during a rendezvous with the maid. The fire quickly spread throughout the medieval town, leaving approximately 7,000 people homeless.

If it weren't for the many signs, visitors would probably miss the narrowest street in the world.

Source: imago images/Eibner

When Reutlingen was rebuilt after the fire, this extremely narrow alley was also created. The Spreuerhof, which gives the street its name today, was a grain storage facility for the hospital at the time; the narrow alley was probably intended to serve as an escape route.

Today, the alley itself may be inconspicuous, but the huge signs commemorating the world record are impossible to miss.

Before Reutlingen claimed the world record, Parliament Street in Exeter, southern England, was considered the narrowest street in the world. At approximately 64 centimeters, it is more than twice as wide as Spreuerhofstraße, which measures just 31 centimeters at its narrowest point.

At one point, the alley threatened to become even narrower: The house next door was dilapidated and was leaning increasingly toward the alley, further reducing the distance between the gutter and the next building. The house wasn't listed as a historic monument, and the owner didn't want to modernize it. To maintain the world record, the city bought the house and renovated it.

If you're out and about in Reutlingen, you can't miss the alley despite its narrowness: A large red sign with the inscription "Here you go to the world record" points to Spreuerhofstraße.

On Spreuerhofstraße there is a so-called narrowest street-o-meter that you can use to measure whether you can fit through the alley.

Source: imago images/Eibner

If you're not sure if you'll actually fit through, you can use the Narrowest Street-O-Meter to test whether your body size can cope with the narrow passage. Of course, there's also a selfie point at the other end, complete with a certificate. It's hard to get much more out of such a narrow attraction for tourists.

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