You can’t call yourself a true car enthusiast if you haven’t visited Maranello, the home of the most evocative car company of all, Ferrari.

Nestled below Modena, the company has changed beyond recognition since its first car, the 125, of 1947. And part of that cultural shift is most visible in how Ferrari opens its doors to visitors; you don’t have to buy one of its six-figure sports cars to experience some of the magic that appears to power one of the world’s most successful brands. 

The Italian car maker offers officially sanctioned coach tours of Maranello, the factory site and the Fiorano test track, for €15 a head. There is a museum to immerse yourself in, and another – a tribute to Enzo Ferrari – in Modena.

But for a truly special experience, you should spend a day playing spy photographer, and prowl the roads around Maranello on the lookout for secret new models.

Before any car company reveals its new models, its engineers have to test the prototypes on public roads, and if you wait by the factory gates at Via Musso you might just spot one - covered in a crude assembly of camouflage that makes the cars appear as if they’re held together using sticky tape and black bin bags. There’ll also be no shortage of freshly built Ferraris undergoing the company’s standard road test appraisal, but the real trophy catch is a prototype.

I’ve done as much on several occasions. The most memorable of those was during the informal launch of the Ferrari 599 GTO - Grand Turismo Omologato, an acronym originally reserved for road cars primarily designed to race.

The 2010 special was a 6-litre V12 hot rod that would gladly rev to 8,400rpm all day long. And the noise – oh, the noise. It remains one of the best-sounding cars I’ve been jammy enough to spend time in, a smooth yet potent burble that grows to a howling, angry blare, accompanied by small explosions from the exhaust every time you pulled the paddleshift for Ferrari’s F1 transmission and grabbed another gear.

Pacing the hills outside Maranello, we passed several Ferrari prototypes and development vehicles. The drivers wore Raybans, and would give just the slightest nod of the head as they passed in the opposite direction. By the time you found somewhere to pull over and turn around, they were long gone.

Playing on the roads, there was time to indulge in full-throttle launches from a standstill, which had the microphone for the video recording equipment that had been placed near the exhaust’s tailpipe whimpering for mercy. And around the hairpins the GTO proved wonderfully playful, with power to overwhelm the back tyres’ traction and poise to let you ride out the slide without breaking a sweat.

After a day photographing the car and stalking Ferrari’s test drivers, there was just one more task to complete. Make a beeline for Via Abetone Inferiore, where a neon yellow Ferrari script adorns the entrance that the thousands of staff are proud to walk through every day, and photograph the 599 GTO beneath.

At which point, a top-secret proptotype pulled out and passed by just as we were busy getting the final shot of the day in the bag…

Words James Mills Twitter | Instagram