diff --git a/avatar/settings.py b/avatar/settings.py
index cd63c1d..642e78a 100644
--- a/avatar/settings.py
+++ b/avatar/settings.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ AVATAR_STORAGE_DIR = getattr(settings, 'AVATAR_STORAGE_DIR', 'avatars')
 AVATAR_GRAVATAR_BACKUP = getattr(settings, 'AVATAR_GRAVATAR_BACKUP', True)
 AVATAR_GRAVATAR_DEFAULT = getattr(settings, 'AVATAR_GRAVATAR_DEFAULT', None)
 AVATAR_DEFAULT_URL = getattr(settings, 'AVATAR_DEFAULT_URL', 'avatar/img/default.jpg')
+AVATAR_BASE_URL = getattr(settings, 'AVATAR_BASE_URL', 'http://www.gravatar.com')
 AVATAR_MAX_AVATARS_PER_USER = getattr(settings, 'AVATAR_MAX_AVATARS_PER_USER', 42)
 AVATAR_MAX_SIZE = getattr(settings, 'AVATAR_MAX_SIZE', 1024 * 1024)
 AVATAR_THUMB_FORMAT = getattr(settings, 'AVATAR_THUMB_FORMAT', "JPEG")
diff --git a/avatar/templatetags/avatar_tags.py b/avatar/templatetags/avatar_tags.py
index 645546e..b2364f4 100644
--- a/avatar/templatetags/avatar_tags.py
+++ b/avatar/templatetags/avatar_tags.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse
 from django.contrib.auth.models import User
 
 from avatar.settings import (AVATAR_GRAVATAR_BACKUP, AVATAR_GRAVATAR_DEFAULT,
-                             AVATAR_DEFAULT_SIZE)
+                             AVATAR_DEFAULT_SIZE, AVATAR_BASE_URL)
 from avatar.util import get_primary_avatar, get_default_avatar_url, cache_result
 from avatar.models import Avatar
 
@@ -27,7 +27,8 @@ def avatar_url(user, size=AVATAR_DEFAULT_SIZE):
             params = {'s': str(size)}
             if AVATAR_GRAVATAR_DEFAULT:
                 params['d'] = AVATAR_GRAVATAR_DEFAULT
-            return "http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/%s/?%s" % (
+            return "%s/avatar/%s/?%s" % (
+                AVATAR_BASE_URL,
                 md5_constructor(user.email).hexdigest(),
                 urllib.urlencode(params))
         else:
diff --git a/avatar/urls.py b/avatar/urls.py
index db51420..1fbe017 100644
--- a/avatar/urls.py
+++ b/avatar/urls.py
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 from django.conf.urls.defaults import patterns, url
 
-urlpatterns = patterns('avatar.views',
-    url('^add/$', 'add', name='avatar_add'),
-    url('^webcam-upload/(?P<id>\d+)', 'webcam_upload', name='avatar-webcam-upload'),
-    url('^change/$', 'change', name='avatar_change'),
-    url('^delete/$', 'delete', name='avatar_delete'),
-    url('^render_primary/(?P<user>[\+\w]+)/(?P<size>[\d]+)/$', 'render_primary', name='avatar_render_primary'),
-    
-    url('^list/(?P<username>[\+\w]+)/$', 'avatar_gallery', name='avatar_gallery'),
-    url('^list/(?P<username>[\+\w]+)/(?P<id>[\d]+)/$', 'avatar', name='avatar'),
+urlpatterns = patterns(
+    'avatar.views',
+    url(r'^add/$', 'add', name='avatar_add'),
+    url(r'^webcam-upload/(?P<id>\d+)', 'webcam_upload', name='avatar-webcam-upload'),
+    url(r'^change/$', 'change', name='avatar_change'),
+    url(r'^delete/$', 'delete', name='avatar_delete'),
+    url(r'^render_primary/(?P<user>[\w\d\.\-_]{3,30})/(?P<size>[\d]+)/$', 'render_primary', name='avatar_render_primary'),
+    url(r'^list/(?P<username>[\+\w]+)/$', 'avatar_gallery', name='avatar_gallery'),
+    url(r'^list/(?P<username>[\+\w]+)/(?P<id>[\d]+)/$', 'avatar', name='avatar'),
 )
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 40ceb31..55e63a0 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -110,6 +110,9 @@ Global Settings
 There are a number of settings available to easily customize the avatars that
 appear on the site.  Listed below are those settings:
 
+AVATAR_BASE_URL
+    The base URL where to get avatars at gravatar.com. Defaults to ``http://www.gravatar.com``.
+
 AUTO_GENERATE_AVATAR_SIZES
     An iterable of integers representing the sizes of avatars to generate on
     upload.  This can save rendering time later on if you pre-generate the
@@ -160,7 +163,7 @@ setup(
     url='http://github.com/ericflo/django-avatar/',
     license='BSD',
     packages=find_packages(),
-    package_data = {
+    package_data={
         'avatar': [
             'templates/notification/*/*.*',
             'templates/avatar/*.html',