In Italy, during the 1970s, the state television (the only one available; no other channels existed yet) used to entertain evening viewers with multi-part fiction that often dealt with dark, esoteric, mysterious, science fiction, or even outright horror themes. At the time, television were only in black and white, and this further enhanced the arcane mood of that tv fiction that over time have become true cult classics.

The most famous series were Gamma (1975), Ritratto di donna velata (Portrait of a veiled woman, 1975), Il segno del comando (The sign of command, 1971), La traccia verde (The green trail, 1975), L'amaro caso della baronessa di Carini (The bitter case of the baroness of Carini, 1975), A come Andromeda (A for Andromeda, 1972), and more. One of the hallmarks of these series were the theme songs that introduced it, composed by masters of Italian soundtracks such as Enrico Simonetti, Riz Ortolani, Berto Pisano, and others.

Many years later, a group of musicians (who were children at the time of these dramas and still remember them with a mixture of fascination and anxiety) reunited under the name L'Ombra della Sera (The shadow of the evening), from the name of the mysterious Etruscan statuette depicted in Ritratto di donna velata. But who really is L'Ombra della Sera? They are, in fact, La Maschera di Cera, Italian progressive rock band active since 2001 and much loved by fans of the genre, with six studio albums and an intense concert schedule worldwide. La Maschera di Cera decided to create the alter ego L'Ombra della Sera to pay homage to some of these tv fiction and their beautiful theme songs, that have been reworked and enriched with a progressive feel that recalls the dark/gothic school of Van der Graaf Generator, some King Crimson, the symphonic elements of Genesis, and the great tradition of 70s Italian prog. All this is intertwined with chamber, psychedelic, jazz, and even funky influences, in a personal and nuanced homage.

The band has also enriched its arsenal of vintage instrumentation with synthesizers and string machines from the era. The result is a double album titled Segreti nel Nero (Secret in black), which Black Widow Records will release on March 29, 2026, to coincide with the live performance at the Claque in Genoa. Among the reworked themes, the album also contains another gem: the soundtrack to an unproduced TV series based on Giorgio De Maria's cursed novel, Le Venti giornate di Torino (The twenty days of Turin, 1977). The project, abandoned before it saw the light of day, left only a few fragments of footage and some musical themes composed by a mysterious composer whose whereabouts have been lost over time. Thanks to careful archival research, L'Ombra della Sera was able to recover the original scores, reworking them into a long and evocative suite.