diff --git a/avatar/settings.py b/avatar/settings.py
index eba4233..e22ab71 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 201e566..2a8d2fb 100644
--- a/avatar/templatetags/avatar_tags.py
+++ b/avatar/templatetags/avatar_tags.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ 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
 
 register = template.Library()
@@ -25,7 +25,8 @@ 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/setup.py b/setup.py
index 7c3858a..b5d60ca 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 from setuptools import setup, find_packages
 
-version = '2.0a1'
+version = '2.0a2'
 
 LONG_DESCRIPTION = """
 Using django-avatar
@@ -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