6.7 isn’t small... But 53 miles means Rome was not at the epicenter. On the other hand, you’ve got to believe that there were a fair number of people who were at the epicenter, given the population density in that area.
Here live coverage from SKY Italia (in Italian)...
http://us.mg201.mail.yahoo.com/dc/launch?.rand=cj44hcm9n6mik
I was born in one of those hard hit villages (Poggio Picenze) and went to high school in L’Aquila, before coming to the States. Still have lots of relatives there.