I think, what you need is a javascript. You use javascript to get the value of your dropdownlist, and then put it into another div or other element. It would look something like this:
<?php
//the javascript that doing the jobs
$script = "function showItemValue(){
document.getElementById('xxx').innerHTML = document.getElementById('the_drop_down_list_id_name').value;
}";
//put the script to the view
Yii::app()->clientScript->registerScript('js1', $script, CClientScript::POS_END);
?>
<?php echo CHtml::activeDropDownList($model, 'id_item', CHtml::listData(Item::model()->findAll(), 'id', 'item'), array('onchange'=>'showItemValue()')); ?>
<div id='xxx'></div>