diff --git a/docs/staticfiles.md b/docs/staticfiles.md
index 3591b4f9f..fa14e6c34 100644
--- a/docs/staticfiles.md
+++ b/docs/staticfiles.md
@@ -3,12 +3,13 @@ Starlette also includes a `StaticFiles` class for serving files in a given direc
 
 ### StaticFiles
 
-Signature: `StaticFiles(directory=None, packages=None, check_dir=True)`
+Signature: `StaticFiles(directory=None, packages=None, check_dir=True, follow_symlink=False)`
 
 * `directory` - A string or [os.Pathlike][pathlike] denoting a directory path.
 * `packages` - A list of strings or list of tuples of strings of python packages.
 * `html` - Run in HTML mode. Automatically loads `index.html` for directories if such file exist.
 * `check_dir` - Ensure that the directory exists upon instantiation. Defaults to `True`.
+* `follow_symlink` - A boolean indicating if symbolic links for files and directories should be followed. Defaults to `False`.
 
 You can combine this ASGI application with Starlette's routing to provide
 comprehensive static file serving.
diff --git a/starlette/staticfiles.py b/starlette/staticfiles.py
index d09630f35..4d075b3ed 100644
--- a/starlette/staticfiles.py
+++ b/starlette/staticfiles.py
@@ -45,12 +45,14 @@ def __init__(
         ] = None,
         html: bool = False,
         check_dir: bool = True,
+        follow_symlink: bool = False,
     ) -> None:
         self.directory = directory
         self.packages = packages
         self.all_directories = self.get_directories(directory, packages)
         self.html = html
         self.config_checked = False
+        self.follow_symlink = follow_symlink
         if check_dir and directory is not None and not os.path.isdir(directory):
             raise RuntimeError(f"Directory '{directory}' does not exist")
 
@@ -161,7 +163,11 @@ def lookup_path(
         self, path: str
     ) -> typing.Tuple[str, typing.Optional[os.stat_result]]:
         for directory in self.all_directories:
-            full_path = os.path.realpath(os.path.join(directory, path))
+            joined_path = os.path.join(directory, path)
+            if self.follow_symlink:
+                full_path = os.path.abspath(joined_path)
+            else:
+                full_path = os.path.realpath(joined_path)
             directory = os.path.realpath(directory)
             if os.path.commonprefix([full_path, directory]) != directory:
                 # Don't allow misbehaving clients to break out of the static files
diff --git a/tests/test_staticfiles.py b/tests/test_staticfiles.py
index 142c2a00b..eb6c73f7f 100644
--- a/tests/test_staticfiles.py
+++ b/tests/test_staticfiles.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import os
 import pathlib
 import stat
+import tempfile
 import time
 
 import anyio
@@ -448,3 +449,70 @@ def mock_timeout(*args, **kwargs):
     response = client.get("/example.txt")
     assert response.status_code == 500
     assert response.text == "Internal Server Error"
+
+
+def test_staticfiles_follows_symlinks(tmpdir, test_client_factory):
+    statics_path = os.path.join(tmpdir, "statics")
+    os.mkdir(statics_path)
+
+    source_path = tempfile.mkdtemp()
+    source_file_path = os.path.join(source_path, "page.html")
+    with open(source_file_path, "w") as file:
+        file.write("<h1>Hello</h1>")
+
+    statics_file_path = os.path.join(statics_path, "index.html")
+    os.symlink(source_file_path, statics_file_path)
+
+    app = StaticFiles(directory=statics_path, follow_symlink=True)
+    client = test_client_factory(app)
+
+    response = client.get("/index.html")
+    assert response.url == "http://testserver/index.html"
+    assert response.status_code == 200
+    assert response.text == "<h1>Hello</h1>"
+
+
+def test_staticfiles_follows_symlink_directories(tmpdir, test_client_factory):
+    statics_path = os.path.join(tmpdir, "statics")
+    statics_html_path = os.path.join(statics_path, "html")
+    os.mkdir(statics_path)
+
+    source_path = tempfile.mkdtemp()
+    source_file_path = os.path.join(source_path, "page.html")
+    with open(source_file_path, "w") as file:
+        file.write("<h1>Hello</h1>")
+
+    os.symlink(source_path, statics_html_path)
+
+    app = StaticFiles(directory=statics_path, follow_symlink=True)
+    client = test_client_factory(app)
+
+    response = client.get("/html/page.html")
+    assert response.url == "http://testserver/html/page.html"
+    assert response.status_code == 200
+    assert response.text == "<h1>Hello</h1>"
+
+
+def test_staticfiles_disallows_path_traversal_with_symlinks(tmpdir):
+    statics_path = os.path.join(tmpdir, "statics")
+
+    root_source_path = tempfile.mkdtemp()
+    source_path = os.path.join(root_source_path, "statics")
+    os.mkdir(source_path)
+
+    source_file_path = os.path.join(root_source_path, "index.html")
+    with open(source_file_path, "w") as file:
+        file.write("<h1>Hello</h1>")
+
+    os.symlink(source_path, statics_path)
+
+    app = StaticFiles(directory=statics_path, follow_symlink=True)
+    # We can't test this with 'httpx', so we test the app directly here.
+    path = app.get_path({"path": "/../index.html"})
+    scope = {"method": "GET"}
+
+    with pytest.raises(HTTPException) as exc_info:
+        anyio.run(app.get_response, path, scope)
+
+    assert exc_info.value.status_code == 404
+    assert exc_info.value.detail == "Not Found"