diff --git a/spacy/lang/it/tag_map.py b/spacy/lang/it/tag_map.py
index ef4fcf1da..420165f24 100644
--- a/spacy/lang/it/tag_map.py
+++ b/spacy/lang/it/tag_map.py
@@ -316,5 +316,5 @@ TAG_MAP = {
     "V__VerbForm=Ger": {"pos": "VERB"},
     "V__VerbForm=Inf": {"pos": "VERB"},
     "X___": {"pos": "X"},
-    "_SP": {"pos": "_SP"}
+    "_SP": {"pos": "SPACE"}
 }