The Battle of Vilanova took place on 17 September 1658 during the Portuguese Restoration War near the Fort of São Luis de Gonzaga, located south of Tui in the southern bank of the Minho River.

[8] The Spanish governor of Galicia, Vicente de Gonzaga y Doria, crossed in the Miño river in command of 6,000 infantry and 900 cavalry soldiers with the aim of preventing the Portuguese army from sending reinforcements to its garrisons in Alentejo.

[10] However, he ordered a fort to be built atop of the hill of San Pedro de la Torre, near the Portuguese riverside of the Minho river.

[11] A new governor for Galicia, don Rodrigo Pimentel, Marquis of Viana, was appointed by King Philip IV in May 1658 with instructions of recover Salvatierra de Miño and other important towns of the area.

The commander of the cavalry was the Portuguese loyalist don Bernardino de Meneses, Marquis of Peñalba, Count of Tarouca and Grandee of Portugal.

[4] On 17 September the Portuguese army under João Rodrigues de Vasconcelos e Sousa, Count of Castelo Melhor, numbering 5,500 infantry and 500 cavalry men, approached a league from the Spanish.

Teniente Maestro the Campo General don Francisco Buzo, meanwhile, was ordered to skirmish with the Portuguese in command of 400 musketeers.