I fell in love with Lamborghinis when I was young (late Countach/early Diablo era) so I've always preferred their style, but now with their extended period of German ownership they are quite credible performance cars as well (Audi Le Mans/GT influence, perhaps?).

I've driven quite a few Porsches and Ferraris, from 1970's models through modern ones and I'll almost always agree the Porsche is the better car. Usually faster, drives better, handles better, easier to work on, and easier to get parts for. But... it's usually the Ferrari that I want to take home. I've owned and enjoyed a few different Porsches, but my favorite car I've ever owned was a '95 Ferrari F355 Spider that would get its butt kicked by a Porsche 993 Turbo of the same era.

These days, automotive engineering is the art and science of using math to cope with regulation. Nobody does it like the Germans... legally or otherwise.

How does it work in practice? Is that legal in every country they operate? What prevents someone paying a middle man to buy a Ferrari then sell it to them?

Money isn't enough if you want to purchase something like the new SF90 Stradale brand new, you essentially need to be offered the opportunity to buy one by Ferrari Corporate. Oh and you gain that by buying quite a number of used Ferraris and less desirable new Ferraris via your dealership until someone "notices" your "love of the brand".

If this sounds like gatekeepy bullshit, it is.

If a long-term owner told you that, by all means consider it; if a non-owner (including a mechanic) tells you second/third-hand horror stories, I’d be pretty inclined to ignore them.

Like so many things these reputations form for good reasons - you may get lucky and have no particular problems with an individual example but that doesn't mean the reputation isn't deserved.

As (by now historical) anecdata I owned an Alfetta (2000, gasoline, "America") for several years (used 50% with my father) we made 250,000 km with the original engine, then we put an used (from a wreckage) one with alredy 66,000 km and drove it for another 100,000 km or so when we had an issue with the gearbox/transmission and the car was overall too old to be worth the repair, but the body was in very good condition (car was around 15 years old).

Later I drove for a few years a 75 (bought used with already 90,000 km, "italian") and while I had no particular issues (engine and mechanics in general) up to the 150,000/200,000 km, the body had lots of issues with rust/corrosion after 6-7 years.

I would not call any of them "unreliable", they needed some little maintenance, but I would say no more than other make/models of those years (those were the '80's and early '90's).

Later Alfa Romeo became essentially "FIAT with another name" and reliability was essentially the same as the FIATs (rather poor, but not as bad as they are sometimes depicted).

Not to say the cars are perfect, but most owners end up with relatively hassle-free ownership experiences these days.