diff --git a/plans/functional.fmf b/plans/functional.fmf
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6b622520
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plans/functional.fmf
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+summary:
+  Functional tests
+discover+:
+  filter: tier:2
+prepare:
+  - how: install
+    package: xz
+  - how: shell
+    script: |
+      curl -O https://src.fedoraproject.org/lookaside/rpm-specs-latest.tar.xz
+      tar -xf rpm-specs-latest.tar.xz -C /tmp
diff --git a/specfile/sections.py b/specfile/sections.py
index b98284fd..f467c6d9 100644
--- a/specfile/sections.py
+++ b/specfile/sections.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
     SECTION_OPTIONS,
     SIMPLE_SCRIPT_SECTIONS,
 )
+from specfile.exceptions import RPMException
 from specfile.formatter import formatted
 from specfile.macro_definitions import MacroDefinitions
 from specfile.macros import Macros
@@ -241,9 +242,14 @@ def split_id(line):
             if len(tokens) > 2:
                 # if the last token after macro expansion starts with a newline,
                 # consider it part of section content
-                if expand(tokens[-1]).startswith("\n"):
-                    content = [tokens.pop()]
-                    separator = tokens.pop()
+                try:
+                    expanded = expand(tokens[-1])
+                except RPMException:
+                    pass
+                else:
+                    if expanded.startswith("\n"):
+                        content = [tokens.pop()]
+                        separator = tokens.pop()
             if len(tokens) > 2:
                 name = tokens[0]
                 delimiter = tokens[1]
diff --git a/specfile/specfile.py b/specfile/specfile.py
index b4a8bb98..400b4bb7 100644
--- a/specfile/specfile.py
+++ b/specfile/specfile.py
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ def __init__(
         """
         self.autosave = autosave
         self._path = Path(path)
-        self._lines = self.path.read_text().splitlines()
+        self._lines = self._read_lines(self._path)
         self._parser = SpecParser(
             Path(sourcedir or self.path.parent), macros, force_parse
         )
@@ -101,6 +101,10 @@ def __exit__(
     ) -> None:
         self.save()
 
+    @staticmethod
+    def _read_lines(path: Path) -> List[str]:
+        return path.read_text(encoding="utf8", errors="surrogateescape").splitlines()
+
     @property
     def path(self) -> Path:
         """Path to the spec file."""
@@ -154,11 +158,11 @@ def rpm_spec(self) -> rpm.spec:
 
     def reload(self) -> None:
         """Reload the spec file content."""
-        self._lines = self.path.read_text().splitlines()
+        self._lines = self._read_lines(self.path)
 
     def save(self) -> None:
         """Save the spec file content."""
-        self.path.write_text(str(self))
+        self.path.write_text(str(self), encoding="utf8", errors="surrogateescape")
 
     def expand(
         self,
diff --git a/tests/functional.fmf b/tests/functional.fmf
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..18036396
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/functional.fmf
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+summary:
+  Functional tests
+require:
+  - python3-pytest
+  - python3-specfile
+  - redhat-rpm-config
+  - rpmautospec-rpm-macros
+  - "*-srpm-macros"
+tag:
+  - functional
+tier: 2
+duration: 1h
+# running from the "tests" directory prevents pytest from processing "tests/functional/conftest.py"
+path: /
+test: python3 -m pytest --verbose --specdir=/tmp/rpm-specs tests/functional
diff --git a/tests/functional/__init__.py b/tests/functional/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e01ff12d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/functional/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+# Copyright Contributors to the Packit project.
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
diff --git a/tests/functional/conftest.py b/tests/functional/conftest.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..93475816
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/functional/conftest.py
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+# Copyright Contributors to the Packit project.
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
+
+from pathlib import Path
+
+
+def pytest_addoption(parser):
+    parser.addoption(
+        "--specdir",
+        action="store",
+        default=None,
+        help="path to a directory containing spec files",
+    )
+
+
+def pytest_generate_tests(metafunc):
+    if "spec_path" in metafunc.fixturenames:
+        specdir = metafunc.config.getoption("specdir")
+        specs = list(Path(specdir).glob("*.spec")) if specdir else []
+        metafunc.parametrize("spec_path", specs, ids=lambda p: p.name)
diff --git a/tests/functional/test_parse.py b/tests/functional/test_parse.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a26ecf6e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/functional/test_parse.py
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# Copyright Contributors to the Packit project.
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
+
+from specfile import Specfile
+
+
+def test_parse(spec_path):
+    spec = Specfile(spec_path, force_parse=True)
+    assert spec.expanded_version