ROME — A top Italian official denied reports on Friday that a ransom of 12 million euros, or about $14 million, had been paid to secure the freedom of two young aid workers taken hostage in Syria last summer.

The official, Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni, dismissed the reports as “conjecture.”

“We are against the payment of ransoms,” Mr. Gentiloni said in a report to Parliament on Friday. “As far as ransoms are concerned, I want to stress that, in terms of hostage taking, Italy follows international rules and behaviors.”

The aid workers, Greta Ramelli, 20, and Vanessa Marzullo, 21, are believed to have been seized in July or August by the Nusra Front, an affiliate of Al Qaeda. They were among a number of Westerners in Syria who have been abducted by the Nusra Front and the Islamic State militant group. The Islamic State has beheaded at least five Western captives, including three Americans.

On national television, the two young women’s relatives expressed their gratitude for Italy’s government and the foreign minister for their help in their liberation. No details on their kidnapping, or the negotiations that led to their release, were made public, and the families said they know little of the details of their captivity.