Having learnt from the Italian invasion on Abyssinia, the Regia Aeronautica wanted to replace all their fighters with a new modern one, so on 10th February 1936 they issued an specification for a new airplane powered by a single radial engine with a speed of 500km/h, a climb rate at 5000 meters in 6 minutes, an autonomy of, at least two hours and armed with two 12,7 (0,5in) calibre machines guns.
As Mario Castaldi designed both Macchi M.39 and M.72 which won the prestigious Schneider trophy, he proposed an all-metal low wing cantilever monoplane with retractable landing gear and an enclosed cockpit. It had a monocoque fuselage with self-sealing fuel tanks under pilot's seat and in the mid part of the wings. The cockpit was elevated over the engine in order to provide a good field of view. The wings had a system where the hydraullicaly flaps were connected to the ailerons, in order to make the flaps drop when the aillerons were lowered. It was powered by the Fiat A.74 radial engine which was a copy of the American Pratt & Whitney R-1830 SC-4 Twin Wasp as it was the only Italian engine that could provide some reliable results over the allied airplanes.
The first prototype flew for the first time on 24th December 1937 in Lonate-Pozzolo at Varese, with a second prototype flying the next year. It achieved a speed of 805km/h (500mph) during a dive but it's real maneouvrable speed wasn't beyond of 500km/h (310mph), a speed better than it's most direct competitors of the "caccia I" program which were the Fiat G.50, the IMAM Ro.51, the Reggiane Re.2000 ,the A.U.T. 18 and the Caproni-Vizzola F.5. It began to be tested in June 1938 together with the Fiat G.50 which also chosen for limited production. It's mass production began in
June 1939.
The first airplanes were handed over to the Regia Aeronautica in August 1939, the the 10º Gruppo, 4º Stormo based in North Africa. However the pilots of that unit were reluctant of the new type, preferring their Fiat Cr.42 as they were highly more maneouvrables. They were reconducted to the 6º Gruppo, 1º Stormo, based in Sicily and 152º Gruppo of the 54º Stormo, based in Vergiate.
At the beginning of the war, the Saetta (arrow) -the nickname that the C.200 received- could only be outclimbed by the Supermarine Spitfire. It saw its baptism of fire on 23rd June 1940, shortly after Italy entered the war, when some C.200 that were escorting some Savoia-Marchetti Sparvieros were engaged by Gloster Gladiators.
However, it wasn't until 1st November 1940 when the Saettas could claim their first kill when a Short Sunderland that was performing reconnaissance missions was shot down off the shore of the town of Augusta, in Sicily. When the German X Fliegerkorps arrived in Sicily, the Saettas were assigned to escort duties for the Junkers Ju.87 bombing Malta as the Stukas hadn't fighter escort until the Bf.109 arrived in Sicily.
Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macchi_C.200
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
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