Casa du Currivu, or “House of Spite”, is a strange-looking house within the Sicilian village of Petralia Sottana that unofficially holds the title of “the narrowest house in the world”.
Petralia Sottana, a small village of about 2,000 inhabitants positioned in the center of the Madonie Mountains within the province of Palermo, is home to at least one of Italy’s most unusual tourist attractions – a two-story house with a standard ground floor and upper level, which is just about 3 feet, or one meter, thick. It is often known as Casa du Currivu, or the House of Malice, mainly as a result of an area legend regarding its purpose. Because it is not wide enough for 2 people to pass one another, let alone live there full time, the slim edifice was allegedly designed solely to dam a neighbor’s window view after an argument.
Although the precise history of Casa du Currivu is forgotten, it’s believed that this strange house was built sometime within the Nineteen Fifties in consequence of a dispute between two neighbors. In those days, it was common for people to expand their apartment vertically by adding one other floor, but this required the consent of the neighbors. In this particular case, the owner of Casa du Currivu didn’t obtain the consent of one of his neighbors and decided to take revenge.
While the addition of a second floor next to the neighboring constructing required the neighbors’ consent, the addition of a second floor to the neighboring constructing didn’t require any permission at a certain distance, so the contemptuous owner of Casa du Currivu built the house as thin as possible simply to give you the chance to disturb him from the purpose of view of the neighbor, who knew perfectly well that he won’t ever give you the chance to make use of the ground as a living space.
Inside, the House of Spite is virtually empty. It only incorporates a number of windows and a staircase, but there may be nothing inside. It was built out of spite, to cause trouble for the neighbor.
Today, Casa du Currivu is one of essentially the most famous buildings in Sicily and one of the most important attractions of Petralia Sottana.
Interestingly, the Keret House in Warsaw also claims to be the “narrowest house in the world”. It is just 36 inches wide at its narrowest point and 4 inches at its widest point.
