diff --git a/docs/settings.rst b/docs/settings.rst
index d7ba85cd..9c2f13ae 100644
--- a/docs/settings.rst
+++ b/docs/settings.rst
@@ -214,6 +214,7 @@ Setting name (followed by default value, if any)
                                                                                  in this list are written. Paths should be either absolute or relative
                                                                                  to the current Pelican working directory. For possible use cases see
                                                                                  :ref:`writing_only_selected_content`.
+``FORMATTED_FIELDS = ['summary']``                                               A list of metadata fields to be parsed and translated to HTML.
 ===============================================================================  =====================================================================
 
 .. [#] Default is the system locale.
diff --git a/pelican/readers.py b/pelican/readers.py
index 365080d6..731fb5da 100644
--- a/pelican/readers.py
+++ b/pelican/readers.py
@@ -136,13 +136,15 @@ class RstReader(BaseReader):
 
     def _parse_metadata(self, document):
         """Return the dict containing document metadata"""
+        formatted_fields = self.settings['FORMATTED_FIELDS']
+
         output = {}
         for docinfo in document.traverse(docutils.nodes.docinfo):
             for element in docinfo.children:
                 if element.tagname == 'field':  # custom fields (e.g. summary)
                     name_elem, body_elem = element.children
                     name = name_elem.astext()
-                    if name == 'summary':
+                    if name in formatted_fields:
                         value = render_node_to_html(document, body_elem)
                     else:
                         value = body_elem.astext()
@@ -205,10 +207,12 @@ class MarkdownReader(BaseReader):
 
     def _parse_metadata(self, meta):
         """Return the dict containing document metadata"""
+        formatted_fields = self.settings['FORMATTED_FIELDS']
+
         output = {}
         for name, value in meta.items():
             name = name.lower()
-            if name == "summary":
+            if name in formatted_fields:
                 # handle summary metadata as markdown
                 # summary metadata is special case and join all list values
                 summary_values = "\n".join(value)
@@ -333,7 +337,7 @@ class HTMLReader(BaseReader):
             if name is None:
                 attr_serialized = ', '.join(['{}="{}"'.format(k, v) for k, v in attrs])
                 logger.warning("Meta tag in file %s does not have a 'name' "
-                               "attribute, skipping. Attributes: %s", 
+                               "attribute, skipping. Attributes: %s",
                                self._filename, attr_serialized)
                 return
             name = name.lower()
diff --git a/pelican/settings.py b/pelican/settings.py
index e33d6a66..0d69c08e 100644
--- a/pelican/settings.py
+++ b/pelican/settings.py
@@ -133,6 +133,7 @@ DEFAULT_CONFIG = {
     'LOAD_CONTENT_CACHE': True,
     'AUTORELOAD_IGNORE_CACHE': False,
     'WRITE_SELECTED': [],
+    'FORMATTED_FIELDS': ['summary'],
     }
 
 PYGMENTS_RST_OPTIONS = None
diff --git a/pelican/tests/content/article_with_markdown_and_summary_metadata_multi.md b/pelican/tests/content/article_with_markdown_and_summary_metadata_multi.md
index b6ef666c..c5f62a0a 100644
--- a/pelican/tests/content/article_with_markdown_and_summary_metadata_multi.md
+++ b/pelican/tests/content/article_with_markdown_and_summary_metadata_multi.md
@@ -3,5 +3,8 @@ Date: 2012-10-31
 Summary:
     A multi-line summary should be supported
     as well as **inline markup**.
+custom_formatted_field:
+    Multi-line metadata should also be supported
+    as well as *inline markup* and stuff to "typogrify"...
 
 This is some content.
diff --git a/pelican/tests/content/article_with_metadata.rst b/pelican/tests/content/article_with_metadata.rst
index 9b65a4b0..5f3d77bc 100644
--- a/pelican/tests/content/article_with_metadata.rst
+++ b/pelican/tests/content/article_with_metadata.rst
@@ -11,3 +11,6 @@ This is a super article !
     Multi-line metadata should be supported
     as well as **inline markup** and stuff to "typogrify"...
 :custom_field: http://notmyidea.org
+:custom_formatted_field:
+    Multi-line metadata should also be supported
+    as well as *inline markup* and stuff to "typogrify"...
diff --git a/pelican/tests/default_conf.py b/pelican/tests/default_conf.py
index b4f532d4..f38ef804 100644
--- a/pelican/tests/default_conf.py
+++ b/pelican/tests/default_conf.py
@@ -39,6 +39,9 @@ STATIC_PATHS = [
     'extra/robots.txt',
     ]
 
+FORMATTED_FIELDS = ['summary', 'custom_formatted_field']
+
 # foobar will not be used, because it's not in caps. All configuration keys
 # have to be in caps
 foobar = "barbaz"
+