Rescue workers are also searching the rubble of collapsed structures for about one hundred and fifty persons who are still missing.
Many of the dead were reported in the village of Pescara del Tronto, which was levelled to the ground.
The BBC reports that much of the town of Amatrice was also reduced to rubble.
Officials have said the death toll was likely to rise, as search and rescue operation has been stepped up.
The tremor of the quake was felt in the Italian capita, where some buildings shook for up to twenty seconds.
About eighty aftershocks have been reported since the quake struck around 1:36GMT.
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