In general relativity, general covariance is intimately related to "diffeomorphism invariance". This symmetry is one of the defining features of the theory. However, it is a common misunderstanding that "diffeomorphism invariance" refers to the invariance of the physical predictions of a theory under arbitrary coordinate transformations; this is untrue and in fact every physical theory is invariant under coordinate transformations this way. Diffeomorphisms, as mathematicians define them, correspond to something much more radical; intuitively a way they can be envisaged is as simultaneously dragging all the physical fields (including the gravitational field) over the bare differentiable manifold while staying in the same coordinate system. Diffeomorphisms are the true symmetry transformations of general relativity, and come about from the assertion that the formulation of the theory is based on a bare differentiable manifold, but not on any prior geometry — the theory is background-independent (this is a profound shift, as all physical theories before general relativity had as part of their formulation a prior geometry). What is preserved under such transformations are the coincidences between the values the gravitational field takes at such and such a "place" and the values the matter fields take there. From these relationships one can form a notion of matter being located with respect to the gravitational field, or vice versa. This is what Einstein discovered: that physical entities are located with respect to one another only and not with respect to the spacetime manifold. As Carlo Rovelli puts it: "No more fields on spacetime: just fields on fields". This is the true meaning of the saying "The stage disappears and becomes one of the actors"; space-time as a "container" over which physics takes place has no objective physical meaning and instead the gravitational interaction is represented as just one of the fields forming the world. This is known as the relationalist interpretation of space-time. The realization by Einstein that general relativity should be interpreted this way is the origin of his remark "Beyond my wildest expectations".