The process for manufacturing a steel wire comprises: providing a steel wire; austenitizing said steel wire; patenting said steel wire; drawing said steel wire. The patenting of said steel wire comprises: slow cooling said steel wire to a first predetermined temperature; quick cooling the steel wire to a second predetermined temperature; keeping said steel wire at said second predetermined temperature. During the slow cooling, the steel wire substantially keeps its austenite structure unaltered; with the subsequent quick cooling, the steel wire is taken to the best conditions in order to start the phase change in which the austenite structure is transformed into a pearlite structure.