diff --git a/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/invoker.properties b/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/invoker.properties
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3802c4a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/invoker.properties
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+invoker.goals = clean integration-test
diff --git a/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/pom.xml b/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4fff62d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+
+<!--
+Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+distributed with this work for additional information
+regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+to you 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.
+-->
+
+<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/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
+  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+
+  <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins.archetype.its</groupId>
+  <artifactId>build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent</artifactId>
+  <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+  <packaging>maven-archetype</packaging>
+
+  <name>build-archetype-with-existing-parent</name>
+  <description>packages an archetype then runs IT (archetype:integration-test) within a Maven Project being created through another archetype</description>
+
+  <build>
+    <extensions>
+      <extension>
+        <groupId>org.apache.maven.archetype</groupId>
+        <artifactId>archetype-packaging</artifactId>
+        <version>@project.version@</version>
+      </extension>
+    </extensions>
+
+    <pluginManagement>
+      <plugins>
+        <plugin>
+          <artifactId>maven-archetype-plugin</artifactId>
+          <version>@project.version@</version>
+          <configuration>
+            <settingsFile>${basedir}/test-settings.xml</settingsFile>
+            <localRepositoryPath>${project.build.directory}/local-repo</localRepositoryPath>
+          </configuration>
+
+        </plugin>
+        <plugin>
+          <artifactId>maven-resources-plugin</artifactId>
+          <configuration>
+            <includeEmptyDirs>true</includeEmptyDirs>
+          </configuration>
+        </plugin>
+      </plugins>
+    </pluginManagement>
+  </build>
+</project>
diff --git a/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/src/main/resources/META-INF/maven/archetype-metadata.xml b/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/src/main/resources/META-INF/maven/archetype-metadata.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..28ff4bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/src/main/resources/META-INF/maven/archetype-metadata.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+
+<!--
+Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+distributed with this work for additional information
+regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+to you 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.
+-->
+
+<archetype-descriptor xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-archetype-plugin/archetype-descriptor/1.0.0"
+    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+    xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-archetype-plugin/archetype-descriptor/1.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/archetype-descriptor-1.0.0.xsd"
+    name="build-archetype-IT">
+  <fileSets>
+    <fileSet filtered="true" packaged="true" encoding="UTF-8">
+      <directory>src/main/java</directory>
+      <includes>
+        <include>**/*.java</include>
+      </includes>
+    </fileSet>
+  </fileSets>
+</archetype-descriptor>
diff --git a/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/src/main/resources/archetype-resources/pom.xml b/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/src/main/resources/archetype-resources/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7ba4cfb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/src/main/resources/archetype-resources/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+
+<!--
+Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+distributed with this work for additional information
+regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+to you 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.
+-->
+
+<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/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
+  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+## There should be no parent specified, as it should be set automatically
+
+  <groupId>${groupId}</groupId>
+  <artifactId>${artifactId}</artifactId>
+  <version>${version}</version>
+
+  <name>archetype build IT</name>
+</project>
diff --git a/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/src/main/resources/archetype-resources/src/main/java/App.java b/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/src/main/resources/archetype-resources/src/main/java/App.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0e020bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/src/main/resources/archetype-resources/src/main/java/App.java
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+package ${package};
+
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * Hello world!
+ *
+ */
+public class App 
+{
+    public static void main( String[] args )
+    {
+        System.out.println( "Hello World!" );
+        System.out.println( "groupId = ${groupId}" );
+        System.out.println( "artifactId = ${artifactId}" );
+        System.out.println( "package = ${package}" );
+        System.out.println( "packageInPathFormat = ${packageInPathFormat}" );
+    }
+}
diff --git a/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/src/test/resources/projects/archetype.pom.properties b/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/src/test/resources/projects/archetype.pom.properties
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0dfcb2b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/src/test/resources/projects/archetype.pom.properties
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+# https://github.com/mojohaus/pom-root, creates simple pom with packaging pom
+groupId=org.codehaus.mojo.archetypes
+artifactId=pom-root
+version=1.1
diff --git a/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/src/test/resources/projects/archetype.properties b/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/src/test/resources/projects/archetype.properties
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3fbeda5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/src/test/resources/projects/archetype.properties
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+groupId=com.company 
+artifactId=project
+version=1.0-SNAPSHOT
+package=com.company.project
diff --git a/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/src/test/resources/projects/basic/archetype.properties b/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/src/test/resources/projects/basic/archetype.properties
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2607200
--- /dev/null
+++ b/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/src/test/resources/projects/basic/archetype.properties
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+version=0.1-SNAPSHOT
+groupId=archetype.it
+artifactId=basic
+package=build.archetype
diff --git a/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/src/test/resources/projects/basic/goal.txt b/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/src/test/resources/projects/basic/goal.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f8808ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/src/test/resources/projects/basic/goal.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+compile
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/src/test/resources/projects/basic/reference/pom.xml b/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/src/test/resources/projects/basic/reference/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..62a4b5b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/src/test/resources/projects/basic/reference/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<!--
+Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+distributed with this work for additional information
+regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+to you 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.
+--><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/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
+  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+  <parent>
+    <artifactId>project</artifactId>
+    <groupId>com.company</groupId>
+    <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+  </parent>
+
+  <groupId>archetype.it</groupId>
+  <artifactId>basic</artifactId>
+  <version>0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
+
+  <name>archetype build IT</name>
+</project>
diff --git a/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/src/test/resources/projects/basic/reference/src/main/java/build/archetype/App.java b/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/src/test/resources/projects/basic/reference/src/main/java/build/archetype/App.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3119279
--- /dev/null
+++ b/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/src/test/resources/projects/basic/reference/src/main/java/build/archetype/App.java
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+package build.archetype;
+
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * Hello world!
+ *
+ */
+public class App 
+{
+    public static void main( String[] args )
+    {
+        System.out.println( "Hello World!" );
+        System.out.println( "groupId = archetype.it" );
+        System.out.println( "artifactId = basic" );
+        System.out.println( "package = build.archetype" );
+        System.out.println( "packageInPathFormat = build/archetype" );
+    }
+}
diff --git a/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/src/test/resources/projects/basic/verify.groovy b/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/src/test/resources/projects/basic/verify.groovy
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b8e0729
--- /dev/null
+++ b/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/src/test/resources/projects/basic/verify.groovy
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+System.out.println("Yeah Baby, it rocks!")
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/test-settings.xml b/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/test-settings.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ab9e16e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/test-settings.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+
+<!--
+Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+distributed with this work for additional information
+regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+to you 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.
+-->
+
+<settings>
+  <profiles>
+    <profile>
+      <id>it-repo</id>
+      <activation>
+        <activeByDefault>true</activeByDefault>
+      </activation>
+      <repositories>
+        <repository>
+          <id>local.central</id>
+          <url>@localRepositoryUrl@</url>
+          <releases>
+            <enabled>true</enabled>
+          </releases>
+          <snapshots>
+            <enabled>true</enabled>
+          </snapshots>
+        </repository>
+      </repositories>
+      <pluginRepositories>
+        <pluginRepository>
+          <id>local.central</id>
+          <url>@localRepositoryUrl@</url>
+          <releases>
+            <enabled>true</enabled>
+          </releases>
+          <snapshots>
+            <enabled>true</enabled>
+          </snapshots>
+        </pluginRepository>
+      </pluginRepositories>
+    </profile>
+  </profiles>
+</settings>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/verify.bsh b/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/verify.bsh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2d245ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/maven-archetype-plugin/src/it/build-archetype-and-run-its-with-existing-parent/verify.bsh
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.
+ */
+
+import java.io.*;
+import org.codehaus.plexus.util.*;
+
+basedir = new File( basedir, "target/test-classes/projects/basic/project/project/basic" );
+if ( !basedir.exists() ) {
+	throw new Exception( basedir + " is missing." );
+}
+
+File main = new File( basedir, "src/main" );
+
+// check <fileset packaged="true">
+File app = new File( main, "java/build/archetype/App.java" );
+if ( !app.isFile() )
+{
+    throw new Exception( app + " file is missing or not a file." );
+}
+
+File buildLog = new File( basedir, "build.log" );
+
+String content = FileUtils.fileRead( buildLog, "UTF-8" );
+
+int idx = content.indexOf( "Yeah Baby, it rocks!" );
+if ( idx < 0 )
+{
+    throw new Exception( "build.log missing System.out.println from verify.groovy" );
+}
diff --git a/maven-archetype-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/archetype/mojos/IntegrationTestMojo.java b/maven-archetype-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/archetype/mojos/IntegrationTestMojo.java
index 66966d4..c7ecb8d 100644
--- a/maven-archetype-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/archetype/mojos/IntegrationTestMojo.java
+++ b/maven-archetype-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/archetype/mojos/IntegrationTestMojo.java
@@ -19,12 +19,37 @@
  * under the License.
  */
 
+import java.io.BufferedReader;
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileInputStream;
+import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
+import java.io.FileReader;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.io.Reader;
+import java.io.StringWriter;
+import java.io.Writer;
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.Collection;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Properties;
+import java.util.Set;
+
 import org.apache.commons.collections.CollectionUtils;
 import org.apache.maven.archetype.ArchetypeGenerationRequest;
 import org.apache.maven.archetype.ArchetypeGenerationResult;
 import org.apache.maven.archetype.common.Constants;
 import org.apache.maven.archetype.exception.ArchetypeNotConfigured;
 import org.apache.maven.archetype.generator.ArchetypeGenerator;
+import org.apache.maven.artifact.Artifact;
+import org.apache.maven.artifact.factory.ArtifactFactory;
+import org.apache.maven.artifact.repository.ArtifactRepository;
+import org.apache.maven.artifact.resolver.ArtifactNotFoundException;
+import org.apache.maven.artifact.resolver.ArtifactResolutionException;
+import org.apache.maven.artifact.resolver.ArtifactResolver;
 import org.apache.maven.plugin.AbstractMojo;
 import org.apache.maven.plugin.MojoExecutionException;
 import org.apache.maven.plugin.MojoFailureException;
@@ -48,25 +73,6 @@
 import org.codehaus.plexus.util.WriterFactory;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.util.introspection.ReflectionValueExtractor;
 
-import java.io.BufferedReader;
-import java.io.File;
-import java.io.FileInputStream;
-import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
-import java.io.FileReader;
-import java.io.IOException;
-import java.io.InputStream;
-import java.io.Reader;
-import java.io.StringWriter;
-import java.io.Writer;
-import java.util.Arrays;
-import java.util.Collection;
-import java.util.HashMap;
-import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
-import java.util.List;
-import java.util.Map;
-import java.util.Properties;
-import java.util.Set;
-
 /**
  * <p>
  * Execute the archetype integration tests, consisting in generating projects from the current archetype and optionally
@@ -84,6 +90,43 @@
  * the IT.</li>
  * </ul>
  * <p/>
+ * To let the IT create a Maven module below some other Maven project (being generated from another archetype)
+ * one can additionally specify an optional <code>archetype.pom.properties</code> file in the parent directory,
+ * specifying the archetype's <code>groupId</code>, <code>artifactId</code> and <code>version</code> along with its 
+ * <code>archetype.properties</code> file, containing properties for project generation. Both files are leveraged
+ * to create the parent project for this IT. Parent projects can be nested.
+ * An example structure for such an integration test looks like this
+ * <table>
+ * <tr>
+ * <th>File/Directory</code></td>
+ * <th>Description</td>
+ * </tr>
+ * <tr>
+ * <td><code>src/test/resources/projects/it1</code></td>
+ * <td>Directory for integration test 1</td>
+ * </tr>
+ * <tr>
+ * <td><code>src/test/resources/projects/it1/archetype.pom.properties</code></td>
+ * <td>GAV for the archetype from which to generate the parent</td>
+ * </tr>
+ * <tr>
+ * <td><code>src/test/resources/projects/it1/archetype.properties</code></td>
+ * <td>All required properties for the archetype being specified by <code>archetype.pom.properties</code> on this level</td>
+ * </tr>
+ * <tr>
+ * <td><code>src/test/resources/projects/it1/child</code></td>
+ * <td>Directory for maven module within integration test 1 (this folder's name is not relevant)</td>
+ * </tr>
+ * <tr>
+ * <td><code>src/test/resources/projects/it1/child/goal.txt</code></td>
+ * <td>The file containing the list of goals to be executed against the generated project</td>
+ * </tr>
+ * <tr>
+ * <td><code>src/test/resources/projects/it1/child/archetype.properties</code></td>
+ * <td>All required properties for this project's archetype</td>
+ * </tr>
+ * </table> 
+ * <p/>
  * Notice that it is expected to be run as part as of a build after the <code>package</code> phase and not directly as a
  * goal from CLI.
  *
@@ -100,6 +143,18 @@
     @Component
     private Invoker invoker;
 
+    @Component
+    private ArtifactFactory artifactFactory;
+    
+    @Component
+    private ArtifactResolver artifactResolver;
+    
+    @Parameter( defaultValue = "${project.remoteArtifactRepositories}", readonly = true, required = true )
+    protected List remoteRepositories;
+
+    @Parameter( defaultValue = "${localRepository}", readonly = true, required = true )
+    protected ArtifactRepository localRepository;
+    
     /**
      * The archetype project to execute the integration tests on.
      */
@@ -240,7 +295,7 @@
 
         try
         {
-            List<File> projectsGoalFiles = FileUtils.getFiles( testProjectsDirectory, "*/goal.txt", "" );
+            List<File> projectsGoalFiles = FileUtils.getFiles( testProjectsDirectory, "**/goal.txt", "" );
 
             if ( projectsGoalFiles.size() == 0 )
             {
@@ -427,40 +482,15 @@
         {
             Properties properties = getProperties( goalFile );
 
-            String basedir = goalFile.getParentFile().getPath() + "/project";
+            File basedir = new File( goalFile.getParentFile(), "project" );
 
             FileUtils.deleteDirectory( basedir );
 
-            FileUtils.mkdir( basedir );
+            FileUtils.mkdir( basedir.toString() );
+            
+            basedir = setupParentProjects( goalFile.getParentFile().getParentFile(), basedir );
 
-            //@formatter:off
-            ArchetypeGenerationRequest request =
-                new ArchetypeGenerationRequest().setArchetypeGroupId( project.getGroupId() ).setArchetypeArtifactId(
-                    project.getArtifactId() ).setArchetypeVersion( project.getVersion() ).setGroupId(
-                    properties.getProperty( Constants.GROUP_ID ) ).setArtifactId(
-                    properties.getProperty( Constants.ARTIFACT_ID ) ).setVersion(
-                    properties.getProperty( Constants.VERSION ) ).setPackage(
-                    properties.getProperty( Constants.PACKAGE ) ).setOutputDirectory( basedir ).setProperties(
-                    properties );
-            //@formatter:on
-
-            ArchetypeGenerationResult result = new ArchetypeGenerationResult();
-
-            archetypeGenerator.generateArchetype( request, archetypeFile, result );
-
-            if ( result.getCause() != null )
-            {
-                if ( result.getCause() instanceof ArchetypeNotConfigured )
-                {
-                    ArchetypeNotConfigured anc = (ArchetypeNotConfigured) result.getCause();
-
-                    throw new IntegrationTestFailure(
-                        "Missing required properties in archetype.properties: " + StringUtils.join(
-                            anc.getMissingProperties().iterator(), ", " ), anc );
-                }
-
-                throw new IntegrationTestFailure( result.getCause().getMessage(), result.getCause() );
-            }
+            ArchetypeGenerationRequest request = generate( project.getGroupId(), project.getArtifactId(), project.getVersion(), archetypeFile, properties, basedir.toString() );
 
             File reference = new File( goalFile.getParentFile(), "reference" );
 
@@ -486,6 +516,97 @@
         }
     }
 
+    private ArchetypeGenerationRequest generate( String archetypeGroupId, String archetypeArtifactId, String archetypeVersion, File archetypeFile, Properties properties, String basedir ) throws IntegrationTestFailure
+    {
+        //@formatter:off
+        ArchetypeGenerationRequest request =
+            new ArchetypeGenerationRequest().setArchetypeGroupId( archetypeGroupId ).setArchetypeArtifactId(
+                archetypeArtifactId ).setArchetypeVersion( archetypeVersion ).setGroupId(
+                properties.getProperty( Constants.GROUP_ID ) ).setArtifactId(
+                properties.getProperty( Constants.ARTIFACT_ID ) ).setVersion(
+                properties.getProperty( Constants.VERSION ) ).setPackage(
+                properties.getProperty( Constants.PACKAGE ) ).setOutputDirectory( basedir ).setProperties(
+                properties );
+        //@formatter:on
+
+        ArchetypeGenerationResult result = new ArchetypeGenerationResult();
+
+        archetypeGenerator.generateArchetype( request, archetypeFile, result );
+
+        if ( result.getCause() != null )
+        {
+            if ( result.getCause() instanceof ArchetypeNotConfigured )
+            {
+                ArchetypeNotConfigured anc = (ArchetypeNotConfigured) result.getCause();
+
+                throw new IntegrationTestFailure(
+                    "Missing required properties in archetype.properties: " + StringUtils.join(
+                        anc.getMissingProperties().iterator(), ", " ), anc );
+            }
+
+            throw new IntegrationTestFailure( result.getCause().getMessage(), result.getCause() );
+        }
+        return request;
+    }
+
+    private File setupParentProjects( File configFolder, File buildFolder )
+        throws IOException, MojoExecutionException, IntegrationTestFailure
+    {
+        // look for 'archetype.pom.properties'
+        File archetypePomPropertiesFile = new File( configFolder, "archetype.pom.properties" );
+        if ( !archetypePomPropertiesFile.exists() ) 
+        {
+            getLog().debug( "No 'archetype.pom.properties' file found in " + configFolder );
+            return buildFolder;
+        }
+        
+        // go up to the parent configuration folder
+        buildFolder = setupParentProjects( configFolder.getParentFile(), buildFolder );
+        
+        Properties archetypePomProperties = loadProperties( archetypePomPropertiesFile );
+        String groupId = archetypePomProperties.getProperty( Constants.GROUP_ID );
+        if ( StringUtils.isEmpty( groupId ) )
+        {
+            throw new MojoExecutionException( "Property " + Constants.GROUP_ID + " not set in " + archetypePomPropertiesFile );
+        }
+        String artifactId = archetypePomProperties.getProperty( Constants.ARTIFACT_ID );
+        if ( StringUtils.isEmpty( artifactId ) )
+        {
+            throw new MojoExecutionException( "Property " + Constants.ARTIFACT_ID + " not set in " + archetypePomPropertiesFile );
+        }
+        String version = archetypePomProperties.getProperty( Constants.VERSION );
+        if ( StringUtils.isEmpty( version ) )
+        {
+            throw new MojoExecutionException( "Property " + Constants.VERSION + " not set in " + archetypePomPropertiesFile );
+        }
+        
+        File archetypeFile;
+        try
+        {
+            archetypeFile = getArchetypeFile( groupId, artifactId, version );
+        }
+        catch ( ArtifactResolutionException e )
+        {
+            throw new MojoExecutionException( "Could not resolve archetype artifact " , e );
+        }
+        catch ( ArtifactNotFoundException e )
+        {
+            throw new MojoExecutionException( "Could not find archetype artifact " , e );
+        }
+        Properties archetypeProperties = getProperties( archetypePomPropertiesFile );
+        getLog().info( "Setting up parent project in " + buildFolder );
+        ArchetypeGenerationRequest request = generate( groupId, artifactId, version, archetypeFile, archetypeProperties, buildFolder.toString() );
+        return new File( buildFolder, request.getArtifactId() );
+    }
+
+    private File getArchetypeFile( String groupId, String artifactId, String version ) 
+        throws ArtifactResolutionException, ArtifactNotFoundException
+    {
+        Artifact archetypeArtifact = artifactFactory.createBuildArtifact( groupId, artifactId, version, "maven-archetype" );
+        artifactResolver.resolve( archetypeArtifact, remoteRepositories, localRepository );
+        return archetypeArtifact.getFile();
+    }
+
     private Properties getProperties( File goalFile )
         throws IOException
     {