We've all heard the song. Now I'll tell you the truth. These are stereotypical Italian truths about speghetti: 1) you can tell when a pot of speghetti is al dente by taking a strand out of the boiling water and throwing it at semi-high speed onto a wall. 2) speghetti should not be broken up to boil it's much more fun later to leave them full length. 3) a cap full of olive oil should be thrown over bare drained pasta to keep it from sticking.