Most words in Italian are pronounced with the stress falling on the next-to-last syllable.

There is also a group of words that are pronounced with the stress falling in the last syllable. All of these words have a written accent:

Many words are pronounced with the stress on the third-to-last or fourth-to-last syllable. There is no rule governing the placement of the stress in these cases. As you develop an ear for the language you will learn which pronunciation sounds better.