Fighting in the summer heat was savage and bloody, in a heathland described by Spanish officers as "sin àrbol, y con falta de agua" ("treeless, and lacking water").

Both sides dug trenches and threw up earthworks, with fighting often devolving into scattered local exchanges of gunfire punctuated by intense bouts of melee combat.

There were high casualties on both sides until Leganés, seeing little chance of dislodging a numerically inferior and entrenched enemy, decided to preserve his army by withdrawing under the cover of darkness.

The Franco-Savoyard army remained some days near Tornavento, sacking nearby towns and damaging a canal, but decided to conduct a withdrawal from Milanese territory.

[8] Every year in the hamlet of Tornavento a colourful and spectacular reenactment of the battle is held by volunteers, clothed and armed with uniforms and weapons in use at that time, from pike to musket and cannon.