ROME (Reuters) - The central Italian town of Amatrice was badly damaged by a 6.2 magnitude earthquake that struck early on Wednesday, with people trapped under the rubble, the town's mayor said.

"The roads in and out of town are cut off. Half the town is gone," Sergio Pirozzi, mayor of Amatrice, told RAI state television.

"There are people under the rubble... There's been a landslide and a bridge might collapse."

Italy's Civil Protection agency said the earthquake was "severe" and there had been reports of damage, while a refuge on Gran Sasso mountain said on its Facebook page that a large piece of rock collapsed in the quake.

(Reporting by Steve Scherer; Editing by Crispian Balmer)