Nouns ending in -a

Masculine nouns ending in -a will form their plural with -i, 

Feminine nouns change their ending from -a to -e.

  Italian English
Masculine Il poeta → I poeti The poet → The poets
Feminine La ragazza → Le ragazze The girl → The girls
 
Exceptions
In case –a is preceded by c or g, an h is added just before the new vowel -e.

Italian English
La formica → Le formiche The ant → The ants
La riga → Le righe The row → The rows
La domenica → Le domeniche The Sunday → The Sundays
 
Nouns ending in -e
A noun ending in -e changes its vowel to -i, regardless of its gender.

Italian English
Il fiore → I fiori The flower → The flowers
La parete → Le pareti The wall → The walls
Il colore → I colori The colour → The colours

Nouns ending in -i and -u

This kind of nouns derives from foreign or ancient languages; the vowel ending remains unchanged when forming
the plural.

Italian English
La crisi → Le crisi The crisis → The crises
Lo gnu → Gli gnu The gnu → The gnus
La metropoli → Le metropoli The metropolis → The metropolises

Nouns ending in -o
These nouns are almost always masculine, thus normally change to -i when forming the plural.

Italian English
Il regalo → I regali  The present →The presents
Lo stereotipo → Gli stereotipi The stereotype → The stereotypes
Il libro → I libri The book → The books
 
When -o is preceded by c or g and the stress falls on the next-to-last syllable, an h has to be added between the
consonant and the new vowel.

Italian English
Il sugo → I sughi The sauce → The sauces
Il cuoco → I cuochi The cook → The sauces
Il lago → I laghi The lake → The lakes
 
Exceptions
Note the following irregularities:

Italian English
L'amico → Gli amici The friend → The friends
Il nemico → I nemici The enemy → The enemies
Il greco → I greci The Greek → The Greeks
 

Nouns ending in -io

Nouns ending in -io simply drop the -o when forming their plural.

Italian English
Lo specchio → Gli specchi The mirror → The mirrors
L'operaio → Gli operai The worker → The workers
L'orologio → Gli orologi The clock → The clocks

If the i preceding -o is stressed, then it is necessary to add another i:

Italian English
Lo zio → Gli zii The uncle → The uncles
L'addio → Gli addii The farewell → The farewells
Il pendìo → I pendii The slope → The slopes
But in Italian there are SEVEN words for "the", depending on what you're talking about.
SEVEN! Here they are:

Il I le la l’ gli lo

FEMININE MASCULINE
La is used for all feminine singular il is used for masculine singular
nouns beginning with a consonant. nouns beginning with a consonant.

the house
la casa the horse
il cavallo

When a feminine noun l’ is used for masculine singular

starts with a vowel,  nouns starting with a vowel.
la contracts into l’.

the idea the angel 

l’idea l’angelo

Le is used for all feminine plural i is used for masculine plural nouns
nouns, even if they start with a vowel. starting with a consonant.

the houses the horses

le case i cavalli

the ideas
le idee

gli is used for masculine plural

nouns starting with a vowel.

the angels 
gli angeli
 The twist for Z and S
In addition to those above, there is a special case for masculine nouns that start with a "Z" or
an "S-consonant". (That's words that start "St", "Sc", "Sp" etc. Not words that start "Sa",
"Si", "Se" etc.)

lo is used for masculine singular nouns beginning with a Z or S+consonant.

the backpack
lo zaino

the student
lo studente
gli is used for masculine plural nouns beginning with a Z or S+consonant (plus vowels, as
above)

the backpacks
gli zaini

the students
gli studenti