If you need a visa, - see http://www.esteri.it/visti/ (in several languages) - you must enquire immediately (please, take the word immediately very seriously) with the Italian authorities in your country about the (long and detailed) list of documents needed and tell Paola and Lodovico the way you may be helped overcoming difficulties (there may be many ! ).

For your further evidence, a message sent by a participant in May 2008 is copied here below:

Regarding the visa, I think it was quite straight-forward except for the fact that the officers did not recognize some forms of evidence.
In my case, they did not see a confirmation of a hotel reservation (they issue visas only for the days you have hotel accommodation).
They are used to seeing an email confirmation like the ones you would get from regular hotels. So when I told them that this is a conference center, the officer had no idea.

And the Italian Consulate in San Francisco, CA, USA, recommended that we apply 30 days in advance and that is what I did.

But future participants should be aware Italian consulates in other countries/cities could behave differently.