diff --git a/bin/index.js b/bin/index.js
index f08f597f..57776e74 100755
--- a/bin/index.js
+++ b/bin/index.js
@@ -38,6 +38,11 @@ require('yargs')
             type: 'boolean',
             default: false
         });
+        yargs.option('--noWrap', {
+            describe: 'do not wrap variables',
+            type: 'boolean',
+            default: false
+        });
     }, (argv) => {
         if (argv.verbose) {
             Logger.info(`parse sample ${argv.sample} markdown`);
@@ -45,7 +50,7 @@ require('yargs')
 
         try {
             argv = Commands.validateParseArgs(argv);
-            return Commands.parse(argv.sample, argv.out, argv.generateMarkdown, argv.withCicero)
+            return Commands.parse(argv.sample, argv.out, argv.generateMarkdown, argv.withCicero, argv.noWrap)
                 .then((result) => {
                     if(result) {Logger.info('\n'+result);}
                 })
diff --git a/src/CiceroMark.js b/src/CiceroMark.js
index ee4fbe92..b0d9f92d 100644
--- a/src/CiceroMark.js
+++ b/src/CiceroMark.js
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ class CiceroMark {
     fromCommonMark(concertoObject) {
         // Add Cicero nodes
         const parameters = {
+            ciceroMark: this,
             commonMark: this.commonMark,
             modelManager : this.modelManager,
             serializer : this.serializer,
@@ -70,16 +71,17 @@ class CiceroMark {
     /**
      * Converts a ciceromark document back to a regular commmark document
      * @param {*} concertoObject concerto cicero object
+     * @param {object} [options] configuration options
      * @returns {*} concertoObject concerto commonmark
      */
-    toCommonMark(concertoObject) {
+    toCommonMark(concertoObject, options) {
         // Add Cicero nodes
         const parameters = {
             commonMark: this.commonMark,
             modelManager : this.modelManager,
             serializer : this.serializer
         };
-        const visitor = new FromCiceroVisitor();
+        const visitor = new FromCiceroVisitor(options);
         concertoObject.accept( visitor, parameters );
 
         // Validate
@@ -87,6 +89,16 @@ class CiceroMark {
         return this.serializer.fromJSON(json);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Converts a ciceromark document back to markdown string
+     * @param {*} concertoObject concerto cicero object
+     * @param {object} [options] configuration options
+     * @returns {*} concertoObject concerto commonmark
+     */
+    toString(concertoObject, options) {
+        return this.commonMark.toString(this.toCommonMark(concertoObject, options));
+    }
+
     /**
      * Retrieve the serializer used by the parser
      *
diff --git a/src/Commands.js b/src/Commands.js
index 4160b6f6..689c69a8 100644
--- a/src/Commands.js
+++ b/src/Commands.js
@@ -86,9 +86,10 @@ class Commands {
      * @param {string} outPath to an output file
      * @param {boolean} generateMarkdown whether to transform back to markdown
      * @param {boolean} withCicero whether to further transform for Cicero
+     * @param {boolean} noWrap whether to avoid wrapping Cicero variables in XML tags
      * @returns {object} Promise to the result of parsing
      */
-    static parse(samplePath, outPath, generateMarkdown, withCicero) {
+    static parse(samplePath, outPath, generateMarkdown, withCicero, noWrap) {
         const commonMark = new CommonMark();
         const ciceroMark = new CiceroMark();
         const markdownText = Fs.readFileSync(samplePath, 'utf8');
@@ -99,7 +100,8 @@ class Commands {
         let result;
         if (generateMarkdown) {
             if (withCicero) {
-                concertoObject = ciceroMark.toCommonMark(concertoObject);
+                const options = noWrap ? { wrapVariables: false } : null;
+                concertoObject = ciceroMark.toCommonMark(concertoObject, options);
             }
             result = commonMark.toString(concertoObject);
         } else {
diff --git a/src/CommonMark.js b/src/CommonMark.js
index 9734f471..f690cb60 100644
--- a/src/CommonMark.js
+++ b/src/CommonMark.js
@@ -258,16 +258,17 @@ class CommonMark {
 
     /**
      * Converts a commonmark document to a markdown string
-     * @param {*} concertoObject concerto commonmark object
+     * @param {*} concertoObject - concerto commonmark object
+     * @param {*} options - options (e.g., wrapVariables)
      * @returns {string} the markdown string
      */
-    toString(concertoObject) {
+    toString(concertoObject, options) {
         const parameters = {};
         parameters.result = '';
         parameters.first = true;
         parameters.indent = 0;
-        const visitor = new ToStringVisitor();
-        concertoObject.accept( visitor, parameters );
+        const visitor = new ToStringVisitor(options);
+        concertoObject.accept(visitor, parameters);
         return parameters.result.trim();
     }
 
diff --git a/src/FromCiceroVisitor.js b/src/FromCiceroVisitor.js
index 86793b19..e656bac6 100644
--- a/src/FromCiceroVisitor.js
+++ b/src/FromCiceroVisitor.js
@@ -24,6 +24,13 @@ const { COMMON_NS_PREFIX } = require('./Models');
  * markdown content. The resulting AST *should* be equivalent however.
  */
 class FromCiceroVisitor {
+    /**
+     * Construct the visitor
+     * @param {object} [options] configuration options
+     */
+    constructor(options) {
+        this.options = options ? options : { wrapVariables: true };
+    }
 
     /**
      * Visits a sub-tree and return the markdown
@@ -108,7 +115,11 @@ class FromCiceroVisitor {
             // Create the text for that document
             const content = '';
             const attributeString = `id="${thing.id}" value="${thing.value}"`;
-            thing.text = `<variable ${attributeString}/>`;
+            if (this.options && !this.options.wrapVariables) {
+                thing.text = decodeURI(thing.value); // to decode
+            } else {
+                thing.text = `<variable ${attributeString}/>`;
+            }
 
             // Create the proper tag
             let tag = {};
@@ -144,7 +155,11 @@ class FromCiceroVisitor {
             // Create the text for that document
             const content = '';
             const attributeString = `value="${thing.value}"`;
-            thing.text = `<computed ${attributeString}/>`;
+            if (this.options && !this.options.wrapVariables) {
+                thing.text = decodeURI(thing.value); // to decode
+            } else {
+                thing.text = `<computed ${attributeString}/>`;
+            }
 
             // Create the proper tag
             let tag = {};
diff --git a/src/ToCiceroVisitor.js b/src/ToCiceroVisitor.js
index cad1c7c4..dcfc855f 100644
--- a/src/ToCiceroVisitor.js
+++ b/src/ToCiceroVisitor.js
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 
 'use strict';
 
-const { CICERO_NS_PREFIX } = require('./Models');
+const { COMMON_NS_PREFIX, CICERO_NS_PREFIX } = require('./Models');
 
 /**
  * Converts a commonmark model instance to a markdown string.
@@ -68,10 +68,20 @@ class ToCiceroVisitor {
 
                     thing.nodes = parameters.commonMark.fromString(thing.text).nodes;
                     ToCiceroVisitor.visitNodes(this, thing.nodes, parameters);
-                    thing.clauseText = thing.text;
+
                     thing.text = null; // Remove text
+                    thing.clauseText = '';
                     delete thing.tag;
                     delete thing.info;
+
+                    // Go over the loaded clause to generate the unwrapped text
+                    let clone = parameters.serializer.toJSON(thing);
+                    clone.$class = COMMON_NS_PREFIX + 'Paragraph';
+                    delete clone.clauseid;
+                    delete clone.src;
+                    delete clone.clauseText;
+                    clone = parameters.serializer.fromJSON(clone);
+                    thing.clauseText = parameters.ciceroMark.toString(clone, { wrapVariables: false });
                 }
                 else if (tag.attributes[1].name === 'src' &&
                          tag.attributes[0].name === 'clauseid') {
@@ -81,10 +91,19 @@ class ToCiceroVisitor {
 
                     thing.nodes = parameters.commonMark.fromString(thing.text).nodes;
                     ToCiceroVisitor.visitNodes(this, thing.nodes, parameters);
-                    thing.clauseText = thing.text;
                     thing.text = null; // Remove text
+                    thing.clauseText = '';
                     delete thing.tag;
                     delete thing.info;
+
+                    // Go over the loaded clause to generate the unwrapped text
+                    let clone = parameters.serializer.toJSON(thing);
+                    clone.$class = COMMON_NS_PREFIX + 'Paragraph';
+                    delete clone.clauseid;
+                    delete clone.src;
+                    delete clone.clauseText;
+                    clone = parameters.serializer.fromJSON(clone);
+                    thing.clauseText = parameters.ciceroMark.toString(clone, { wrapVariables: false });
                 } else {
                     //console.log('Found Clause but without \'clauseid\' and \'src\' attributes ');
                 }
diff --git a/src/ToStringVisitor.js b/src/ToStringVisitor.js
index ef96bbf0..2011b5e2 100644
--- a/src/ToStringVisitor.js
+++ b/src/ToStringVisitor.js
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@
  * markdown content. The resulting AST *should* be equivalent however.
  */
 class ToStringVisitor {
-
     /**
      * Visits a sub-tree and return the markdown
      * @param {*} visitor the visitor to use