Rome (CNN) Police in Italy say they raided the homes of 19 people who allegedly wanted to create an "openly pro-Nazi, xenophobic and anti-Semitic" party.

Officers found firearms and propaganda celebrating Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and fascist dictator Benito Mussolini during the series of raids across the country, police said in a statement Thursday.

The 19 suspects are under investigation but were not in custody, and police did not name any of them.

Police searched 19 homes across Italy and found books, plaques and flags with images of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.

Authorities had been monitoring "extreme right-wing local militants" during a two-year investigation led by the Anti-Mafia and Antiterrorism District of the Prosecutors Office of Caltanissetta and identified a "vast and jagged galaxy of subjects" who shared the same "ideological fanatism," police said.

The group intended to form a "openly pro-Nazi, xenophobic and anti-Semitic group called 'Italian National Socialist Workers' Party,'" police said.

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