diff --git a/scrapy/templates/project/module/settings.py.tmpl b/scrapy/templates/project/module/settings.py.tmpl
index ce2751f0f..5ae6cbf5a 100644
--- a/scrapy/templates/project/module/settings.py.tmpl
+++ b/scrapy/templates/project/module/settings.py.tmpl
@@ -11,6 +11,5 @@ BOT_VERSION = '1.0'
 
 SPIDER_MODULES = ['$project_name.spiders']
 NEWSPIDER_MODULE = '$project_name.spiders'
-DEFAULT_ITEM_CLASS = '$project_name.items.${ProjectName}Item'
 USER_AGENT = '%s/%s' % (BOT_NAME, BOT_VERSION)