diff --git a/core/pom.xml b/core/pom.xml
index 092a6212..8f2ab539 100644
--- a/core/pom.xml
+++ b/core/pom.xml
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
-<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
+<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+   xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
 
    <!-- For release: mvn release:perform -Darguments=-Dgpg.passphrase=PASSPHRASE -->
@@ -135,6 +136,12 @@
          <version>5.5.23</version>
          <scope>test</scope>
       </dependency>
+         <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
+            <artifactId>hibernate-core</artifactId>
+            <version>4.3.0.Final</version>
+            <scope>compile</scope>
+         </dependency>
    </dependencies>
 
    <build>
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/com/zaxxer/hikari/hibernate/HikariConfigurationUtil.java b/core/src/main/java/com/zaxxer/hikari/hibernate/HikariConfigurationUtil.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..bbaf1b2a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/main/java/com/zaxxer/hikari/hibernate/HikariConfigurationUtil.java
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2013 Brett Wooldridge
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package com.zaxxer.hikari.hibernate;
+
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Properties;
+
+import org.hibernate.cfg.AvailableSettings;
+
+import com.zaxxer.hikari.HikariConfig;
+
+/**
+ * Utility class to map Hibernate properties to HikariCP configuration properties.
+ *
+ * @author Brett Wooldridge, Luca Burgazzoli
+ */
+public class HikariConfigurationUtil
+{
+    public static final String CONFIG_PREFIX = "hibernate.hikari.";
+    public static final String CONFIG_PREFIX_DATASOURCE = "hibernate.hikari.dataSource.";
+
+    /**
+     * Create/load a HikariConfig from Hibernate properties.
+     *
+     * @param props a map of Hibernate properties
+     * @return a HikariConfig
+     */
+    @SuppressWarnings("rawtypes")
+    public static HikariConfig loadConfiguration(Map props)
+    {
+        Properties hicaryProps = new Properties();
+        copyProperty(AvailableSettings.ISOLATION, props, "transactionIsolation", hicaryProps);
+        copyProperty(AvailableSettings.AUTOCOMMIT, props, "autoCommit", hicaryProps);
+
+        for (Object keyo : props.keySet())
+        {
+            String key = (String) keyo;
+            if (key.startsWith(CONFIG_PREFIX))
+            {
+                hicaryProps.setProperty(key.substring(CONFIG_PREFIX.length()), (String) props.get(key));
+            }
+        }
+
+        return new HikariConfig(hicaryProps);
+    }
+
+    @SuppressWarnings("rawtypes")
+    private static void copyProperty(String srcKey, Map src, String dstKey, Properties dst)
+    {
+        if (src.containsKey(srcKey))
+        {
+            dst.setProperty(dstKey, (String) src.get(srcKey));
+        }
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/com/zaxxer/hikari/hibernate/HikariConnectionProvider.java b/core/src/main/java/com/zaxxer/hikari/hibernate/HikariConnectionProvider.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9b5114ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/main/java/com/zaxxer/hikari/hibernate/HikariConnectionProvider.java
@@ -0,0 +1,150 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2013 Brett Wooldridge
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package com.zaxxer.hikari.hibernate;
+
+import java.sql.Connection;
+import java.sql.SQLException;
+import java.util.Map;
+
+import org.hibernate.HibernateException;
+import org.hibernate.engine.jdbc.connections.spi.ConnectionProvider;
+import org.hibernate.service.UnknownUnwrapTypeException;
+import org.hibernate.service.spi.Configurable;
+import org.hibernate.service.spi.Stoppable;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+
+import com.zaxxer.hikari.HikariConfig;
+import com.zaxxer.hikari.HikariDataSource;
+
+/**
+ *
+ * @author Brett Wooldridge
+ */
+public class HikariConnectionProvider implements ConnectionProvider, Configurable, Stoppable
+{
+
+    private static final long serialVersionUID = -9131625057941275711L;
+
+    private static final Logger LOGGER = LoggerFactory.getLogger(HikariConnectionProvider.class);
+
+    /**
+     * HikariCP configuration.
+     */
+    private HikariConfig hcfg;
+
+    /**
+     * HikariCP data source.
+     */
+    private HikariDataSource hds;
+
+    // *************************************************************************
+    //
+    // *************************************************************************
+
+    /**
+     * c-tor
+     */
+    public HikariConnectionProvider()
+    {
+        this.hcfg = null;
+        this.hds = null;
+    }
+
+    // *************************************************************************
+    // Configurable
+    // *************************************************************************
+
+    @SuppressWarnings("rawtypes")
+    @Override
+    public void configure(Map props) throws HibernateException
+    {
+        try
+        {
+            LOGGER.debug("Configuring HikariCP");
+
+            this.hcfg = HikariConfigurationUtil.loadConfiguration(props);
+            this.hds = new HikariDataSource(this.hcfg);
+
+        }
+        catch (Exception e)
+        {
+            throw new HibernateException(e);
+        }
+
+        LOGGER.debug("HikariCP Configured");
+    }
+
+    // *************************************************************************
+    // ConnectionProvider
+    // *************************************************************************
+
+    @Override
+    public Connection getConnection() throws SQLException
+    {
+        Connection conn = null;
+        if (this.hds != null)
+        {
+            conn = this.hds.getConnection();
+        }
+
+        return conn;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void closeConnection(Connection conn) throws SQLException
+    {
+        conn.close();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean supportsAggressiveRelease()
+    {
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    @SuppressWarnings("rawtypes")
+    public boolean isUnwrappableAs(Class unwrapType)
+    {
+        return ConnectionProvider.class.equals(unwrapType) || HikariConnectionProvider.class.isAssignableFrom(unwrapType);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
+    public <T> T unwrap(Class<T> unwrapType)
+    {
+        if (isUnwrappableAs(unwrapType))
+        {
+            return (T) this;
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            throw new UnknownUnwrapTypeException(unwrapType);
+        }
+    }
+
+    // *************************************************************************
+    // Stoppable
+    // *************************************************************************
+
+    @Override
+    public void stop()
+    {
+        this.hds.shutdown();
+    }
+}