diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 394de86b4d..be78d0638d 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -8,6 +8,10 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Added
+
+- CMake: Permit to explicitly specify Python installation directory by setting the `IDYNTREE_PYTHON_INSTALL_DIR` CMake variable (https://github.com/robotology/idyntree/pull/1124).
+
 ## [10.0.0] - 2023-10-16
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/bindings/CMakeLists.txt b/bindings/CMakeLists.txt
index 4c19585adf..ace04e23f6 100644
--- a/bindings/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/bindings/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -43,15 +43,19 @@ if(IDYNTREE_USES_PYTHON OR IDYNTREE_USES_PYTHON_PYBIND11)
     endif()
     find_package(Python3 COMPONENTS Interpreter ${IDYNTREE_SEARCHED_Python_Development_Component} NumPy REQUIRED)
 
-    if (IDYNTREE_DETECT_ACTIVE_PYTHON_SITEPACKAGES)
-       set(PYTHON_INSTDIR ${Python3_SITELIB}/idyntree)
-    elseif(IDYNTREE_PACKAGE_FOR_PYPI)
-       set(PYTHON_INSTDIR ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX})
+    if(NOT DEFINED IDYNTREE_PYTHON_INSTALL_DIR)
+       if(IDYNTREE_DETECT_ACTIVE_PYTHON_SITEPACKAGES)
+           set(IDYNTREE_PYTHON_INSTALL_DIR ${Python3_SITELIB})
+       else()
+           execute_process(COMMAND ${Python3_EXECUTABLE}
+                           -c "from distutils import sysconfig; print(sysconfig.get_python_lib(1,0,prefix=''))"
+                           OUTPUT_VARIABLE _PYTHON_INSTDIR)
+           string(STRIP ${_PYTHON_INSTDIR} IDYNTREE_PYTHON_INSTALL_DIR)
+       endif()
+    endif()
+    if(IDYNTREE_PACKAGE_FOR_PYPI)
+        set(PYTHON_INSTDIR ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX})
     else()
-        execute_process(COMMAND ${Python3_EXECUTABLE}
-                        -c "from distutils import sysconfig; print(sysconfig.get_python_lib(1,0,prefix=''))"
-                        OUTPUT_VARIABLE _PYTHON_INSTDIR)
-        string(STRIP ${_PYTHON_INSTDIR} IDYNTREE_PYTHON_INSTALL_DIR)
         set(PYTHON_INSTDIR ${IDYNTREE_PYTHON_INSTALL_DIR}/idyntree)
     endif()
     file(TO_CMAKE_PATH "${PYTHON_INSTDIR}" PYTHON_INSTDIR)