Culture of Milan nevertheless it retained a sort of central position in cultural debates. New ideas and movements from other countries of Europe were accepted and discussed: thus Realism and Naturalism gave birth to an Italian movement, "Verismo". The greatest "verista" novelist, Giovanni Verga, was born in Sicily but wrote his most important books in Milan. Milan is a major nationwide and international centre of the performing arts, most notably opera. Milan is the location of "La Scala" opera house, one of the most prestigious opera houses in the world, and throughout history has hosted the premieres of numerous operas, such as "Nabucco"
Jersey Opera House became a cinema. It ran a regular cinema programme until the German Occupation. When the Germans arrived, there were three cinemas in operation in Jersey: the Forum (opened 1935), the Opera House, and Wests (opened 1909). The Forum, as the largest cinema, was commandeered by the Germans for entertaining the troops. The two remaining cinemas had a mere 32 feature films in stock to last during the Occupation. The Opera House and Wests arranged an alternating programme between themselves, so that a week of cinema was followed by a week of stage performance and that when the Opera House was