Index: src/main/java/info/magnolia/cms/taglibs/util/SimpleNavigationTag.java
===================================================================
--- src/main/java/info/magnolia/cms/taglibs/util/SimpleNavigationTag.java	(revision 30475)
+++ src/main/java/info/magnolia/cms/taglibs/util/SimpleNavigationTag.java	(working copy)
@@ -237,6 +237,15 @@
     private boolean markFirstAndLastElement = false;
 
     /**
+     * Flag to allow HTML code when getting the display string from the "navTitle" field. HTML
+     * code should not be allowed when using the "title" field (or the node name) as source for
+     * the nav item display string since these fields are used in the first place for page
+     * titles and url path segments where no HTML code is allowed. Default is true meaning
+     * HTML code will be escaped (which was the behavior so far).
+     */
+    private boolean escapeXmlInNavTitle = true;
+
+    /**
      * The start level for navigation, defaults to 0.
      * @jsp.attribute required="false" rtexprvalue="true" type="int"
      */
@@ -346,6 +355,18 @@
         markFirstAndLastElement = flag;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Setting this flag to false will allow the HTML tags to be used in the navigation items display string,
+     * but only when the display string is read from the "navTitle" field. Default is "true" meaning HTML
+     * code will be escaped.
+     * @param escapeXmlInNavTitle the escapeXmlInNavTitle to set
+     * @jsp.attribute required="false" rtexprvalue="true" type="boolean"
+     */
+    public void setEscapeXmlInNavTitle(boolean escapeXmlInNavTitle) {
+        this.escapeXmlInNavTitle = escapeXmlInNavTitle;
+    }
+
+
     public int doEndTag() throws JspException {
         Content activePage = Resource.getCurrentActivePage();
         try {
@@ -413,6 +434,7 @@
         this.filter = null;
         this.nofollow = null;
         this.markFirstAndLastElement = false;
+        this.escapeXmlInNavTitle = true;
         super.release();
     }
 
@@ -574,7 +596,11 @@
                 out.print("<" + this.wrapperElement + ">"); //$NON-NLS-1$
             }
 
-            out.print(StringEscapeUtils.escapeHtml(title));
+            if (!escapeXmlInNavTitle && title.equals(nodeData.getString(StringUtils.EMPTY))) {
+                out.print(title);
+            } else {
+                out.print(StringEscapeUtils.escapeHtml(title));
+            }
 
             if (StringUtils.isNotEmpty(this.wrapperElement)) {
                 out.print("</" + this.wrapperElement + ">"); //$NON-NLS-1$