We need the "print view" without the article image - can we make therefore any backend settings (didn't find some so far)?

If yes where and if no what are code changes need to be done at item.php?

Thank you in advance for any help

The default item.php has already some code to hide/show the print button regarding the mode. Taking a look at this code will make it easy to do something like that for the image. In any case remember to make a template override and not modify the existing one.