Francesco Mevoli grew up in his family’s small bed-and-breakfasts in Puglia, Italy, and spent two decades in tourism before founding Gay Up Travel during COVID — a period that left him thinking about everyone in the LGBTQ+ community who doesn’t have a safe, welcoming place to land. His answer: small, intentional trips capped at sixteen people, built around long meals, real wine, and the kind of conversation that only happens when you stop rushing.
In this conversation, Francesco takes Ken through what actually makes his Italy tours different — and the very real safety calculus behind running trips to places like Egypt and Morocco, where the rules are not the same.
In this conversation:
🍷 Why every Gay Up Travel trip starts with wine — and how that one choice sets the tone for the entire group
🇮🇹 The queer history hiding in plain sight on his Italy tours — Michelangelo, the emperor Hadrian, and Casanova’s own fluidity
🇪🇬 How he runs trips safely in places where homosexuality is illegal: vetted local partners, no public affection, no dating apps — because “that’s not the kind of vacation you go on to have that kind of fun”
🍜 Why he sees Italy and Vietnam as culturally connected through food — both built around the idea of the table as the center of life
💍 The proposal he watched happen, unplanned, on a boat in Halong Bay
About Francesco Mevoli
Francesco Mevoli is the founder of Gay Up Travel, a boutique LGBTQ+ travel agency he started in 2021. Originally from Italy, he has lived across Europe and traveled extensively from the Netherlands to Morocco and Vietnam. Gay Up Travel is a U.S.-registered member of the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association (IGLTA) serving primarily North American clients, with every itinerary personally curated by Francesco.
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