diff --git a/tests/test_async.py b/tests/test_async.py
index 6f8fed58..b379baea 100755
--- a/tests/test_async.py
+++ b/tests/test_async.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 # FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU Lesser General Public
 # License for more details.
 
-from testutils import unittest, skip_before_postgres
+from testutils import unittest, skip_before_postgres, slow
 
 import psycopg2
 from psycopg2 import extensions
@@ -318,6 +318,7 @@ class AsyncTests(ConnectingTestCase):
         self.assert_(conn.async)
         conn.close()
 
+    @slow
     def test_flush_on_write(self):
         # a very large query requires a flush loop to be sent to the backend
         curs = self.conn.cursor()
diff --git a/tests/test_cancel.py b/tests/test_cancel.py
index a8eb7506..cb08e5f8 100755
--- a/tests/test_cancel.py
+++ b/tests/test_cancel.py
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ import psycopg2.extensions
 from psycopg2 import extras
 
 from testconfig import dsn
-from testutils import unittest, ConnectingTestCase, skip_before_postgres
+from testutils import unittest, ConnectingTestCase, skip_before_postgres, slow
 
 
 class CancelTests(ConnectingTestCase):
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ class CancelTests(ConnectingTestCase):
     def test_empty_cancel(self):
         self.conn.cancel()
 
+    @slow
     @skip_before_postgres(8, 2)
     def test_cancel(self):
         errors = []
diff --git a/tests/test_connection.py b/tests/test_connection.py
index 833751b9..a5b5c418 100755
--- a/tests/test_connection.py
+++ b/tests/test_connection.py
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ from psycopg2 import extensions as ext
 from testutils import (
     unittest, decorate_all_tests, skip_if_no_superuser,
     skip_before_postgres, skip_after_postgres, skip_before_libpq,
-    ConnectingTestCase, skip_if_tpc_disabled, skip_if_windows)
+    ConnectingTestCase, skip_if_tpc_disabled, skip_if_windows, slow)
 
 from testconfig import dsn, dbname
 
@@ -196,6 +196,7 @@ class ConnectionTests(ConnectingTestCase):
         self.assertRaises(psycopg2.NotSupportedError,
             cnn.xid, 42, "foo", "bar")
 
+    @slow
     @skip_before_postgres(8, 2)
     def test_concurrent_execution(self):
         def slave():
@@ -246,6 +247,7 @@ class ConnectionTests(ConnectingTestCase):
         gc.collect()
         self.assert_(w() is None)
 
+    @slow
     def test_commit_concurrency(self):
         # The problem is the one reported in ticket #103. Because of bad
         # status check, we commit even when a commit is already on its way.
@@ -899,6 +901,7 @@ class ConnectionTwoPhaseTests(ConnectingTestCase):
             (dbname,))
         self.assertEqual('42_Z3RyaWQ=_YnF1YWw=', cur.fetchone()[0])
 
+    @slow
     def test_xid_roundtrip(self):
         for fid, gtrid, bqual in [
             (0, "", ""),
@@ -921,6 +924,7 @@ class ConnectionTwoPhaseTests(ConnectingTestCase):
 
             cnn.tpc_rollback(xid)
 
+    @slow
     def test_unparsed_roundtrip(self):
         for tid in [
             '',
diff --git a/tests/test_copy.py b/tests/test_copy.py
index ac42c980..8cbe4eaa 100755
--- a/tests/test_copy.py
+++ b/tests/test_copy.py
@@ -24,8 +24,8 @@
 
 import sys
 import string
-from testutils import unittest, ConnectingTestCase, decorate_all_tests
-from testutils import skip_if_no_iobase, skip_before_postgres
+from testutils import (unittest, ConnectingTestCase, decorate_all_tests,
+    skip_if_no_iobase, skip_before_postgres, slow)
 from cStringIO import StringIO
 from itertools import cycle, izip
 from subprocess import Popen, PIPE
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ class CopyTests(ConnectingTestCase):
               data text
             )''')
 
+    @slow
     def test_copy_from(self):
         curs = self.conn.cursor()
         try:
@@ -84,6 +85,7 @@ class CopyTests(ConnectingTestCase):
         finally:
             curs.close()
 
+    @slow
     def test_copy_from_insane_size(self):
         # Trying to trigger a "would block" error
         curs = self.conn.cursor()
@@ -120,6 +122,7 @@ class CopyTests(ConnectingTestCase):
         self.assertRaises(ZeroDivisionError,
             curs.copy_from, MinimalRead(f), "tcopy", columns=cols())
 
+    @slow
     def test_copy_to(self):
         curs = self.conn.cursor()
         try:
diff --git a/tests/test_cursor.py b/tests/test_cursor.py
index fc924c4b..a8fedccb 100755
--- a/tests/test_cursor.py
+++ b/tests/test_cursor.py
@@ -26,8 +26,8 @@ import time
 import pickle
 import psycopg2
 import psycopg2.extensions
-from testutils import unittest, ConnectingTestCase, skip_before_postgres
-from testutils import skip_if_no_namedtuple, skip_if_no_getrefcount
+from testutils import (unittest, ConnectingTestCase, skip_before_postgres,
+    skip_if_no_namedtuple, skip_if_no_getrefcount, slow)
 
 
 class CursorTests(ConnectingTestCase):
@@ -331,6 +331,7 @@ class CursorTests(ConnectingTestCase):
         curs.scroll(2)
         self.assertRaises(psycopg2.OperationalError, curs.scroll, -1)
 
+    @slow
     @skip_before_postgres(8, 2)
     def test_iter_named_cursor_efficient(self):
         curs = self.conn.cursor('tmp')
diff --git a/tests/test_errcodes.py b/tests/test_errcodes.py
index 6865194f..accee565 100755
--- a/tests/test_errcodes.py
+++ b/tests/test_errcodes.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
 # FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU Lesser General Public
 # License for more details.
 
-from testutils import unittest, ConnectingTestCase
+from testutils import unittest, ConnectingTestCase, slow
 
 try:
     reload
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ from psycopg2 import errorcodes
 
 
 class ErrocodeTests(ConnectingTestCase):
+    @slow
     def test_lookup_threadsafe(self):
 
         # Increase if it does not fail with KeyError
diff --git a/tests/test_green.py b/tests/test_green.py
index 0424a2cc..6d1571d4 100755
--- a/tests/test_green.py
+++ b/tests/test_green.py
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ import psycopg2
 import psycopg2.extensions
 import psycopg2.extras
 
-from testutils import ConnectingTestCase
+from testutils import ConnectingTestCase, slow
 
 
 class ConnectionStub(object):
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ class GreenTestCase(ConnectingTestCase):
             lambda conn: psycopg2.extras.wait_select(stub))
         return stub
 
+    @slow
     def test_flush_on_write(self):
         # a very large query requires a flush loop to be sent to the backend
         conn = self.conn
diff --git a/tests/test_notify.py b/tests/test_notify.py
index 1a0ac457..4e99a3e9 100755
--- a/tests/test_notify.py
+++ b/tests/test_notify.py
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ from testutils import unittest
 
 import psycopg2
 from psycopg2 import extensions
-from testutils import ConnectingTestCase, script_to_py3
+from testutils import ConnectingTestCase, script_to_py3, slow
 from testconfig import dsn
 
 import sys
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ conn.close()
 
         return Popen([sys.executable, '-c', script_to_py3(script)], stdout=PIPE)
 
+    @slow
     def test_notifies_received_on_poll(self):
         self.autocommit(self.conn)
         self.listen('foo')
@@ -90,6 +91,7 @@ conn.close()
         self.assertEqual(pid, self.conn.notifies[0][0])
         self.assertEqual('foo', self.conn.notifies[0][1])
 
+    @slow
     def test_many_notifies(self):
         self.autocommit(self.conn)
         for name in ['foo', 'bar', 'baz']:
@@ -119,6 +121,7 @@ conn.close()
         self.assertEqual(pid, self.conn.notifies[0][0])
         self.assertEqual('foo', self.conn.notifies[0][1])
 
+    @slow
     def test_notify_object(self):
         self.autocommit(self.conn)
         self.listen('foo')
@@ -128,6 +131,7 @@ conn.close()
         notify = self.conn.notifies[0]
         self.assert_(isinstance(notify, psycopg2.extensions.Notify))
 
+    @slow
     def test_notify_attributes(self):
         self.autocommit(self.conn)
         self.listen('foo')
@@ -140,6 +144,7 @@ conn.close()
         self.assertEqual('foo', notify.channel)
         self.assertEqual('', notify.payload)
 
+    @slow
     def test_notify_payload(self):
         if self.conn.server_version < 90000:
             return self.skipTest("server version %s doesn't support notify payload"
@@ -155,6 +160,7 @@ conn.close()
         self.assertEqual('foo', notify.channel)
         self.assertEqual('Hello, world!', notify.payload)
 
+    @slow
     def test_notify_deque(self):
         from collections import deque
         self.autocommit(self.conn)
@@ -167,6 +173,7 @@ conn.close()
         self.assert_(isinstance(notify, psycopg2.extensions.Notify))
         self.assertEqual(len(self.conn.notifies), 0)
 
+    @slow
     def test_notify_noappend(self):
         self.autocommit(self.conn)
         self.conn.notifies = None
diff --git a/tests/test_transaction.py b/tests/test_transaction.py
index 2dc44ec5..36947dee 100755
--- a/tests/test_transaction.py
+++ b/tests/test_transaction.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 # License for more details.
 
 import threading
-from testutils import unittest, ConnectingTestCase, skip_before_postgres
+from testutils import unittest, ConnectingTestCase, skip_before_postgres, slow
 
 import psycopg2
 from psycopg2.extensions import (
@@ -131,6 +131,7 @@ class DeadlockSerializationTests(ConnectingTestCase):
 
         ConnectingTestCase.tearDown(self)
 
+    @slow
     def test_deadlock(self):
         self.thread1_error = self.thread2_error = None
         step1 = threading.Event()
@@ -178,6 +179,7 @@ class DeadlockSerializationTests(ConnectingTestCase):
         self.assertTrue(isinstance(
             error, psycopg2.extensions.TransactionRollbackError))
 
+    @slow
     def test_serialisation_failure(self):
         self.thread1_error = self.thread2_error = None
         step1 = threading.Event()
diff --git a/tests/test_types_extras.py b/tests/test_types_extras.py
index 8e615616..f28c5c21 100755
--- a/tests/test_types_extras.py
+++ b/tests/test_types_extras.py
@@ -22,9 +22,8 @@ from datetime import date, datetime
 from functools import wraps
 from pickle import dumps, loads
 
-from testutils import unittest, skip_if_no_uuid, skip_before_postgres
-from testutils import ConnectingTestCase, decorate_all_tests
-from testutils import py3_raises_typeerror
+from testutils import (unittest, skip_if_no_uuid, skip_before_postgres,
+    ConnectingTestCase, decorate_all_tests, py3_raises_typeerror, slow)
 
 import psycopg2
 import psycopg2.extras
@@ -708,6 +707,7 @@ class AdaptTypeTestCase(ConnectingTestCase):
         curs.execute("select (1,2)::type_ii")
         self.assertRaises(psycopg2.DataError, curs.fetchone)
 
+    @slow
     @skip_if_no_composite
     @skip_before_postgres(8, 4)
     def test_from_tables(self):
diff --git a/tests/testutils.py b/tests/testutils.py
index 93477357..b34a5a87 100644
--- a/tests/testutils.py
+++ b/tests/testutils.py
@@ -447,7 +447,6 @@ def script_to_py3(script):
 
 
 class py3_raises_typeerror(object):
-
     def __enter__(self):
         pass
 
@@ -455,3 +454,13 @@ class py3_raises_typeerror(object):
         if sys.version_info[0] >= 3:
             assert type is TypeError
             return True
+
+
+def slow(f):
+    """Decorator to mark slow tests we may want to skip"""
+    @wraps(f)
+    def slow_(self):
+        if os.environ.get('PSYCOPG2_TEST_FAST'):
+            return self.skipTest("slow test")
+        return f(self)
+    return slow_