ROME — The Italian authorities are investigating accusations by two American women studying abroad in Florence that they were raped on Thursday by two uniformed members of Italy’s Carabinieri police force, and Italy’s defense minister said there appeared to be “some basis” to the allegations.

The accusations have generated considerable coverage in the country’s news media and have shaken Florence’s large community of people involved in study-abroad programs.

“Rape is always a serious matter,” Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti said Friday at a conference on women’s issues. “But it’s of unprecedented seriousness if it is committed by Carabinieri in uniform.” The Carabinieri is a paramilitary police force that operates under the control of the Defense Ministry.

The two women — 19 and 21, according to local news media reports — have accused the two police officers of raping them in the entrance and elevator of their apartment building in the center of Florence before dawn on Thursday. The officers, who are reportedly in their 30s, have denied the allegations, and they have not been charged.