diff --git a/lib/acts_as_filesystem.rb b/lib/acts_as_filesystem.rb
index 4016337..9b98a2a 100644
--- a/lib/acts_as_filesystem.rb
+++ b/lib/acts_as_filesystem.rb
@@ -126,6 +126,31 @@ module ActsAsFileSystem
     def explode_path
       path.split(/\//)
     end
+
+    # returns the full hierarchy from the top-level item to this one. For
+    # example, if item1 has a children item2 and item2 has a children item3,
+    # then item3's hierarchy would be [item1, item2, item3].
+    #
+    # If +reload+ is passed as +true+, then the hierarchy is reload (usefull
+    # when the ActiveRecord object was modified in some way, or just after
+    # changing parent)
+    def hierarchy(reload = false)
+      if reload
+        @hierarchy = nil
+      end
+
+      unless @hierarchy
+        @hierarchy = []
+        item = self
+        while item
+          @hierarchy.unshift(item)
+          item = item.parent
+        end
+      end
+
+      @hierarchy
+    end
+
   end
 end
 
diff --git a/test/unit/acts_as_filesystem_test.rb b/test/unit/acts_as_filesystem_test.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e9da8dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/acts_as_filesystem_test.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../test_helper'
+
+class ActsAsFilesystemTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
+
+  # FIXME shouldn't we test with a non-real model, instead of Article?
+
+  should 'provide a hierarchy list' do
+    profile = create_user('testinguser').person
+
+    a1 = profile.articles.build(:name => 'a1'); a1.save!
+    a2 = profile.articles.build(:name => 'a2'); a2.parent = a1; a2.save!
+    a3 = profile.articles.build(:name => 'a3'); a3.parent = a2; a3.save!
+
+    assert_equal [a1, a2, a3], a3.hierarchy
+  end
+
+  should 'be able to optionally reload the hierarchy' do
+    a = Article.new
+    list = a.hierarchy
+    assert_same list, a.hierarchy
+    assert_not_same list, a.hierarchy(true)
+  end
+
+end
--
libgit2 0.21.2